Farm Policy News

New York Times writer Matina Stevis-Gridneff reported today that, “Russian and Ukrainian negotiators are scheduled to meet Wednesday in Istanbul, in the increasingly desperate effort to release huge amounts of grain from Ukraine’s ports and ship it to a world facing rising hunger.”

Reuters writer Max Hunder reported yesterday that, “Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday he had held talks with Turkish leader Tayyip Erdogan on the need to unblock Ukraine’s ports and resume its grain exports.”

Gabriele Steinhauser reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “The worst hunger emergency in a half-century is afflicting Somalia and some of the world’s other poorest countries, where the effects of drawn-out conflicts and increasingly extreme weather are being exacerbated by the economic disruptions from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the coronavirus pandemic.”

Reuters News reported today that, “World food prices fell for a third consecutive month in June, but remained close to record high levels set in March, the United Nations’ food agency said on Friday.”

Bloomberg writer Volodymyr Verbyany reported yesterday that, “Ukraine’s top diplomat cast doubt on a near-term breakthrough in talks to unblock crop exports from the war-ravaged nation’s Black Sea ports, as fears of a global hunger crisis intensify.”

Reuters writer Ronald Popeski reported yesterday that, “Ukraine is holding talks with Turkey and the United Nations to secure guarantees for grain exports from Ukrainian ports, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday.”

Yusuf Khan and Will Horner reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Fine farm weather and a rush of Russian grain ships through the Black Sea have taken the sting out of global wheat prices, a welcome sign for vulnerable countries struggling with surging food costs.”

Bloomberg writers Kim Chipman, Eleanor Song, and Tarso Veloso Ribeiro reported yesterday that, “Global grain markets are at a pivot point, with prices finally starting to ease after a dizzying surge earlier this year.”

Alan Rappeport reported in today’s New York Times that, “As the United States and Europe contemplate their next rounds of sanctions to starve Russia of the revenue that is funding its war, there is growing concern that the fallout is fueling an alarming hunger problem around the world that will not easily be reversed.”

Missy Ryan reported in Saturday’s Washington Post that, “Top diplomats urged swift global action on Friday in the face of a mounting food crisis, as the war in Ukraine worsens conditions that have pushed millions of people into hunger.”

Thomas Grove reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “The wheat on Pavlo Sergienko’s 7,400-acre farm is ready to harvest.”

Alistair MacDonald, Bojan Pancevski and Drew Hinshaw reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Russian forces targeted at least two large North American-owned grain terminals in the Ukrainian port of Mykolaiv on Wednesday, as part of what Kyiv and Western governments say is a campaign to degrade Ukraine’s ability to export food.”

Bloomberg writers Tarso Veloso Ribeiro and Elizabeth Elkin reported late last week that, “The fertilizer shortage that threw the agricultural sector into disarray and pushed food costs higher globally may be fading.”

Bloomberg writers Megan Durisin and Volodymyr Verbyany reported on Friday that, “From a dramatic loss of export revenue to mine-riddled fields and exploding machinery, Russia’s invasion has taken a massive toll on Ukraine’s agriculture sector.”

Reuters writers Tuvan Gumrukcu and Michelle Nichols reported yesterday that, “Russia on Wednesday said it has offered ‘safe passage’ for Ukraine grain shipments from Black Sea ports but is not responsible for establishing the corridors and Turkey suggested that ships could be guided around sea mines.”

Reuters writer Michelle Nichols reported yesterday that, “U.S. President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that temporary silos would be built along the border with Ukraine in a bid to help export more grain and address a growing global food crisis.”

Reuters writer Conor Humphries reported today that, “As 10-metre high mounds of sunflower meal smoulder among the blackened ruins of one of Ukraine’s top agricultural terminals, farmers in this front-line region are scrambling to survive a harvest under Russian fire.”

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported today that, “Farmers of Ukrainian southern Odesa region have started the 2022 grain harvest taking advantage of favourable weather, regional officials said late on Sunday.”