"War, Inflation and Now Drought Are Hitting Global Food Supplies" Article Reflection No. 143 (6/28/2025)

Article: “War, Inflation and Now Drought Are Hitting Global Food Supplies”

Reflection:

In the article “War, Inflation and Now Drought Are Hitting Global Food Supplies,” journalist Somini Sengupta describes the impact of droughts on food supply and the rising costs of common ingredients like wheat and everyday purchases like coffee. In wheat’s case, droughts resulted in reduced yields and, in turn, prompted agricultural energy state declarations. Coffee production is especially vulnerable to negative consequences from droughts as there are only two main countries, Vietnam and Brazil, who produce the coffee.

The far-reaching impact that climate change can have on global food supplies and rising costs is another example of how developments that we may think are far away from home are in fact closer than may have initially been expected. When talking about increasing costs of goods at one’s grocery store, the idea of inflation and specifically actions of the presidential administration can come to mind but the source of the rising costs can be issues like climate change. I feel like this all ties back to the importance of addressing the root systemic causes of these kinds of issues. If we focus on the economic incentive, how many more people would turn their head at this topic?