Analysis | The current world food crisis demonstrates a need for change
On June 1, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food System Transformation Framework in a speech at Georgetown University. The Biden administration’s new approach to the American food system is forward leaning, and contains a number of positive steps. The transformations in the American food system that Vilsack discussed focus on products, processing, emissions, and infrastructure, among others.
The global food system alone accounts for up to a third of greenhouse gas emissions. With this in mind, the USDA will focus on reaching net zero emissions in the coming years. This will be a huge step toward achieving food security for all, as increasing climate change, caused in part by unsustainable food production, is making it increasingly difficult to create resilient food systems. Other key steps include providing aid to farmers in transitioning to organic farming and expanding storage and production facilities to improve domestic food production and distribution infrastructure. The latter became a front page issue in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic when meat prices began to soar and shelves were bare because of breakdowns in the U.S. meat production and supply chain caused by an overreliance on a small number of meat and poultry processing plants. Vilsack also outlined key steps to expand the U.S. food production workforce capacity, increase school purchasing of local and regional farm products for healthier school lunches, and create a more resilient and equitable system overall.
This domestic agenda goes a long way toward addressing the United States’ biggest national food vulnerabilities, but to truly tackle food insecurity, the Biden administration needs to internationalize this framework. After all, the global food system has never been more vulnerable, as Secretary of State Antony Blinken made clear in remarks at a round table Monday night when he accused Russia of “blackmail” and “exporting starvation and suffering.”
Mission meets the moment
The new USDA framework comes at a moment of heightened global food insecurity. As the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy noted in its 2021 New Global Commons working group report, “Peace Through Food: Ending the Hunger-Instability Nexus,” food insecurity had begun increasing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, after years of decreases. The COVID-19 pandemic that triggered unprecedented lockdowns in countries around the world vividly demonstrated how disease outbreaks and concomitant safety protocols have a direct, and serious, effect on food security.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added millions to the ranks of the food insecure, and not just in poorer countries. The pandemic is a global shock to food systems and people’s lives. Pandemics and regional disease outbreaks affect food systems in many of the ways one would imagine, but also in ways not at first apparent. For instance, lockdowns and border closures cause serious disruptions not only in the distribution of food, but they also prohibit people from producing food, selling food, and earning enough money to purchase food. Moreover, curfews have led to food loss in many African countries, as drivers that normally transported fresh produce during the cooler night time hours can no longer do so.
Just as the world was beginning to come to grips with the infrastructure and supply chain issues caused by COVID-19, another key driver of food insecurity–conflict–reared its ugly head. In Afghanistan, the abrupt U.S. withdrawal has led to a number of horrors and hardships for the Afghan people, with hunger potentially being the most acute. According to a recent United Nations report, nearly half the country’s population is facing acute hunger, and the problem is only getting worse as the country is buffeted by ongoing drought and supply disruptions linked to the war in Ukraine. The Washington Post reports that “mounting hunger and spiraling poverty have forced desperate families into unthinkable scenarios, including forcing families to put their young children to work and to seek dowries for girls as child brides.”
As noted in the Washington Post report, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February has punched global food insecurity and hunger into overdrive. As the ISD report highlights, conflict oftentimes leads to hunger and food insecurity because it disrupts production, processing, and distribution of foodstuffs. The war in Ukraine is a veritable perfect storm of food insecurity due to the country’s high food production levels and the fact that Russia is blockading food exports as a weapon of war. As The New York Times reported: “Ukraine used to be a major global food exporter: it produced 12 percent of the world’s wheat, 15 percent of its corn, and 50 percent of its sunflower oil. But Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has disrupted global supply chains and sent prices for agricultural goods soaring, exposing several countries, especially in Africa, to perilous food shortages.”
Meanwhile, India, another large wheat producer, announced last month that they would stop grain exports due to fears of internal shortages and price hikes. This type of food nativism is a problem, and all the more likely in our current global food system. What the war in Ukraine and export bans like the one in India mean in the short-term are worldwide shortages and price spikes that bring with them a higher probability of political instability and even violence, especially in low-income countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. And, as we have seen, countries in Europe and the United States are not immune to this.
Taking the framework on the road
The new USDA food security framework is a positive step in reimagining the global food system into one that is resilient, sustainable, and environmentally friendly for the long-term. Policies and programs that create zero emissions in food production are non-negotiable to create long-term food security, not to mention checking increased climate change. Meanwhile, expanded and more resilient infrastructure and supply chains will aid in mitigating against current environmental catastrophes and conflict. But other issues are important as well. The creation of more producers, processors, and distributors at the local and regional levels is key to fixing the overall system. The focus on more nutritious food also leads to healthier people and provides more food choices.
To ultimately be successful, though, the Biden administration needs to incorporate this framework more into its national security strategy and diplomatic efforts. As the ISD report highlighted, these food system changes need to be global in nature, not just domestic. This means demanding more of a focus on this issue at the international organization level, and in multilateral and bilateral settings. The Biden administration should also work with countries around the world to internationalize efforts at resiliency and increased infrastructure to shore up food supply chains. The answers are out there but the world needs leadership to move toward a more resilient and sustainable food system.
Kelly McFarland is a U.S. diplomatic historian and the director of programs and research at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy. Follow him on Twitter @McFarlandKellyM.
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