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Ukraine said Wednesday it would not demine waters around the Black Sea port of Odessa to allow for grain to be exported, citing the threat of Russian attacks on the city. “The moment we clear access to the port of Odessa, the Russian fleet will be there,” spokesman for the regional administration Sergiy Bratchuk said in a video statement on social media. He said that Russia “dreams of parachuting troops” into the city and that Moscow’s army “wants to attack” Odessa. The Turkish and Russian foreign ministers were meeting in Ankara Wednesday to discuss the creation of security corridor to...

Combined, Ukraine and Russia produce nearly 30 percent of the world's wheat and barley, as well as a fifth of the world's corn and over half of its sunflower oil, according to the United Nations. The United Nations' World Food Programme announced in an April report that the number of people experiencing acute hunger will rise by 33 million to 47 million people because of the conflict in Ukraine. The report expects countries in sub-Saharan Africa to be the most affected by the disruption. Africa relies on Russia and Ukraine for more than 40 percent of its wheat imports. Tanzania,...

Since progress is reportedly being made on the Russian-Turkish talks to open up a “grain corridor” in the Black Sea, it makes sense why Moscow might have ordered its naval forces to pull back a bit to show that it’s negotiating in good faith, although there hasn’t yet been any confirmation from the Kremlin about this. Kiev claimed that its forces coerced the Russian navy to “retreat” 100 kilometers from the Ukrainian Coast, though this development hasn’t been independently confirmed. In the event that there’s any credibility to Moscow’s reported naval movements, then it’s unlikely that they were done under...

For days the United Nations has been in (so far unsuccessful) talks on cobbling together an agreement on plans to unblock Black Sea grain exports from Ukrainian ports, including controversial discussions with Russia, which has stood accused of ‘weaponizing’ global food supply with its military blockade of key ports. Moscow has in turn charged that Ukraine said ports, making tanker traffic impossible, while also saying the West must ease sanctions if it hopes to get crucial grain exports flowing again. UN officials have said President Vladimir Putin’s offer to lift the blockade if sanctions are dropped is “complicating” the already...

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday denied Moscow was preventing Ukrainian ports from exporting grain and said the best solution would be to ship it through Belarus, as long as sanctions on that country were lifted.Putin, saying reports of a Russian export ban were "a bluff", told national television that Western nations were trying to cover up their own policy mistakes by blaming Russia for problems on the global food market.

"We have space to store (the new crop) although we have a lot of grain here. People are now partially taking it out, having agreed with those who buy it from the Russian side," said Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Military-Civilian Administration. Stremousov was also cited as saying the administration was working on the supplies of sunflower seeds to local and Russian processing plants.

The US general nominated to be the next commander of NATO suggested in a Senate hearing on Thursday that he may offer military options to facilitate grain exports from Ukraine and help break Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s southern coast. When asked what NATO could do about Russia’s blockade, Gen. Christopher Cavoli, who currently serves as the commander of US Army Forces in Europe and Africa, said if he’s confirmed, he would “provide the military options required by our civilian leaders.” “Clearly the way we would approach that would have to be a whole of government approach, which may or may...

Italy says it’s working to intervene diplomatically with Russia to allow Ukrainian ports to open amid a growing global wheat and food supply crisis, given some 30% of the world’s wheat comes from war-ravaged Ukraine and Russia. This culminated in a Thursday phone call between Prime Minister Mario Draghi and Russian President Vladimir Putin, wherein the Italian leader is believed to have pressed Putin to order his military to unblock Black Sea ports. A statement from the Kremlin following the call said “Vladimir Putin emphasizes that the Russian Federation is ready to make a significant contribution to overcoming the food...

Civil vessels may safely use the Azov Sea port of Mariupol in Ukraine as the danger from mines has been eliminated, the Russian defence ministry said on Thursday. It said a maritime humanitarian corridor was opened on Wednesday in the Azov Sea. ...

The United Kingdom supports a proposal by Lithuania to recruit an international fleet of naval warships to break the Russian blockade of Ukraine which is preventing the export of huge amounts of grain to the rest of the world. Millions of tons of grain are stuck inside Ukraine and without it, levels of world hunger are considered highly likely to rise and may even trigger another migrant crisis. Such is the background to the suggestion by Lithuania that a so-called “coalition of the willing” of warships outside the structures of NATO,/B> could work together on getting food out of Ukraine’s...

A unique confluence of archeology, molecular genetics and serendipity guided a collaboration of Mexican and Penn State researchers to a deeper understanding of how modern corn was domesticated from teosinte, a perennial grass native to Mexico and Central America, more than 5,000 years ago.There is much interest in how ancient agriculturists transformed the wild grass teosinte into modern corn, one of the most important and successful crops on earth, according to team leader Jonathan Lynch, distinguished professor of plant nutrition. For decades, his research group in the College of Agricultural Sciences has been uncovering how roots play a critical role...

Across the world, top wheat-producing regions are experiencing adverse weather conditions that could threaten production. In places like Ukraine, a military invasion by Russia has slashed production significantly. All of this suggests the world is on the cusp of a food crisis. Droughts, floods, and heatwaves have plagued farmland in the U.S., Europe, India, and China. As for Ukraine, the world’s largest wheat producer, the war could slash production by upwards of a third. There’s one exception: Russia, which is expected to have a bumper crop as wheat prices soar. “If there was ever a year where we needed to...

Ukraine’s foreign minister said Thursday that everyone involved in the transportation and sales of grain seized by Russia in occupied areas of the country will face legal consequences. “Russia is a criminal three times over: it bombed Syria to ruins, occupied part of Ukraine, and is now selling stolen Ukrainian grain to Syria,” the ministry’s press service cited Dmytro Kuleba as saying. “I want to remind the participants in this deal: what is stolen has never brought happiness to anyone. Everyone involved in the sale, transportation or purchase of stolen grain is an accomplice to the crime,” Kuleba said. “Your...

A representative of the United Nations World Food Program warned on Sunday that Russia is blocking close to 4.5 million tons in grain exports from Ukraine, The Guardian reported. Martin Frick told German news outlet dpa that the abrupt stoppage could initiate a global food crisis and that he is working to allow the supply to go forward. “Foodstuffs have to reach those in Ukraine who are trapped and in need. But at the same time, there is the need to provide other parts of the world with foodstuffs they are expecting from Ukraine in order to alleviate a global...

Today’s Situation Update podcast (see below) reveals worrisome new intel that describes Joe Biden’s “controlled demolition” of the US food supply as a means to deliberately cause food scarcity, panic and chaos nationwide. US rail carriers, we have learned, are right now declaring force majeure and cancelling contracts on their obligations to deliver hundreds of thousands of rail cars of bulk grains to cattle and dairy operations in America. Right now, tens of thousands of dairy animals face starvation within weeks, and grain supplies will be gone in many areas in just a few days. Importantly, if dairy animals are...

Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. Copying articles to share with others is a breach of FT.com T&Cs and Copyright Policy. Email licensing@ft.com to buy additional rights. Subscribers may share up to 10 or 20 articles per month using the gift article service. More information can be found at https://www.ft.com/tour. https://www.ft.com/content/51d767dd-6088-4aad-8d63-ff9179559118 We know that the war in Ukraine has led to sharp increases in prices for both food and fuel. This in turn has sparked concern that we may see a repeat of the famine and food riots that...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - After Russia's invasion of Ukraine sent global wheat futures soaring, U.S. farmer Vance Ehmke was eager to sell his grain. Local prices shot up roughly 30% to nearly $12 a bushel, about the highest Ehmke could recall in 45 years of farming near the western Kansas town of Healy. Instead of reaping a windfall, Ehmke found a commodities market turned upside down. He and his wife Louise told Reuters they couldn't sell a nickel of their upcoming summer wheat harvest for future delivery. Futures prices for corn and wheat had rocketed so abruptly that many along the...

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has laid bare the world’s dependence on Russian President Vladimir Putin and its neighbor now under siege, including the fact that the two countries supply much of the grain needs around the globe and prices for grain are now the highest they have been in six decades. Russia and Ukraine provide 29 percent of global wheat exports, 19 percent of global corn supplies, and 80 percent of the global sunflower oil exports

Ukraine war 'catastrophic for global food' By Emma Simpson Business correspondent, BBC News The boss of one of the world's biggest fertiliser companies has said the war in Ukraine will deliver a shock to the global supply and cost of food. Yara International, which operates in more than 60 countries, buys considerable amounts of essential raw materials from Russia. Fertiliser prices were already high due to soaring wholesale gas prices. Yara's boss, Svein Tore Holsether, has warned the situation could get even tougher. "Things are changing by the hour," he told the BBC.

About two and a half years ago, we told readers China was panic hoarding food, which was several months before the virus pandemic began to spread worldwide; Beijing has managed to stockpile more than half of the world's maize and other grains that have resulted in rapid food inflation and triggered famine in some countries. In August 2019, we asked the question: Does China believe that we are on the verge of a major global crisis? The communist Chinese government has always been very big into planning, and it appears that they have decided that now is the time to...