CHICAGO (NewsNation) — A bowl of cereal may be a luxury item in the near future, according to a new report from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
Friday, as reported in the UN’s monthly food price index, global food prices surged at their fastest pace ever, hitting a record 13% last month.
Already hit by shortages caused by the pandemic and inflation, Russia’s war on Ukraine — plus COVID lockdowns in China’s farming provinces — are making the global food supply chain worse, as shipping from Ukraine’s ports have halted and payments for purchases of Russian wheat are now in doubt.
Overall, wheat prices jumped 37% and corn prices jumped 21% so far in 2022 after rising more than 20% throughout all of 2021.
As a result, American farmers are forced to cut costs and are making smaller profits now than ever before, given Russia is the world’s largest wheat exporter and Ukraine accounts for a quarter of all grains trade and is the number one exporter of sunflower oil.
The rising inflation has already prompted companies including Kellogg and General Mills to raise prices and pass the costs off to consumers. Additionally, high fuel costs, fertilizer costs and continued supply chain issues are now exacerbated.
NewsNation correspondent Kelsey Kernstine went to Kirkland, Illinois, where she spoke to three farmers, who say their jobs are harder than ever.
“People see high food costs and high grocery prices and everybody goes, ‘Them farmers are getting rich,’ and that’s necessarily not the case,” said Illinois farmer Craig Robertson.
He farms soy, wheat and corn, and he says he’s never seen it this bad before.
Craig’s farm manager — Steve Dombrowski — says now, more than ever, they are trying to cut costs anywhere they can.
“It’s going to be very hard for us to save fuel, such as maybe changing our farming techniques,” he said.
Farmers such as Dombrowski are now forced to ask themselves questions they’ve never been forced to ask, ijncluding whether they should use their tractors less and how to conserve the fuel they’ve already bought.
Their biggest fear, however, is the pressure to feed America and the never-ending demand, with higher costs and lower profits than ever before.
“It’s going to be very hard for the American farmer to come up with that much more commodity to help out with the losses in Ukraine and it’s going to a struggle and I think there might be some food shortages,” Dombrowski said.
To make matters worse, Illinois farmer Nick Vowles says, small family farming — once the bread and butter of American farming — is now a dying business, because it’s not what it used to be.
When asked if he was still hoping to give his far away to his three girls, he replied, “I certainly hope they take an interest in it but I certainly understand if they don’t anymore … the average age of the farmer is mid-60s. In Illinois, it’s become more corporate than anything else.”
President Joe Biden is expected to head to Iowa on Tuesday to address the issue.
