Europe, International Development, International Trade & Finance, Russia The Russia-Ukraine War and Global Food Security: A Seven-Week Assessment, and the Way Forward for Policymakers

Caitlin Welsh, Director of the Global Food Security Program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies (CSIS), has published this article from our recent workshop on the war in Ukraine and the global order.

Wars have disrupted agriculture throughout history. But the nature of Russia’s war in Ukraine—a war between two agricultural production powerhouses, in the context of globalized agricultural markets—presents never-before-seen consequences for global agriculture and food security. Seven weeks into the war, the contours of these consequences are clear: exports from Ukraine have stalled, future harvests are in question, global prices of agriculture commodities have spiked, and most exposed are the countries that rely on agricultural exports from Ukraine and Russia to feed their citizens or fertilizer from Russia and Belarus to produce their own food. What can we expect in the coming months? What can be done to stave off the worst effects—for Ukraine and the world? And what are the lessons for policymakers?

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