Reading Time: 3 minutes Iqaluit | Reuters –– In Canada’s remote North, residents have long paid dearly for food, and rising prices have worsened an already dire situation, exposing the vulnerability of one of the world’s biggest exporters of grains and meat. Communities in Nunavut — the largest of the three territories that make up Canada’s northernmost region — […] Read more
Cold and hungry: Food inflation bites Canada’s North
'It's really expensive to do business here'
Ukraine, Russia sign deal to reopen grain export ports
Russia says it 'won't take advantage' of de-mining of ports
Reading Time: 4 minutes Istanbul/Kyiv | Reuters — Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased. The accord crowned two months of talks brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, a NATO member that […] Read more
More than 200 people die as drought ravages northeast Uganda
Reading Time: < 1 minute Kampala | Reuters — More than 200 people have died from hunger this month in northeastern Uganda, where a prolonged drought and rampant insecurity have left more than half a million facing starvation, a local official and a charity worker said. Inhabited by nomadic pastoralists, the semi-arid and remote Karamoja region on the border with […] Read more
Marcos vows to boost Philippines’ grains output
New president/ag min aims to avert food crisis
Reading Time: < 1 minute Manila | Reuters — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed Monday to do what it takes to boost his country’s rice and corn production, seeking to reduce reliance on imports and avoid being hit hard by a food crisis now looming across the world. Marcos, who was sworn in as president last week and has […] Read more
Meeting the growing need for food banks
Canada’s food banks are finding innovative ways to cope with escalating demand
Reading Time: 5 minutes Food bank usage increased more than 20 per cent nationally during the pandemic, with children now making up about a third of food bank users. That’s according to 2021 HungerCount, a report by Food Banks Canada which says a volatile combination of higher food prices, rising housing costs and low incomes has created a “perfect […] Read more
WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime
Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus
Reading Time: 3 minutes Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than […] Read more
Food crisis will drive record displacement levels higher, UN refugee chief says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Geneva | Reuters — A food security crisis stoked by the Ukraine war is set to push more people to flee their homes in poorer countries, driving record levels of global displacement even higher, the head of the U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) said. A report by the U.N. body showed on Thursday that some 89.3 […] Read more
Nutrien to further boost potash output amid global shortage
Company will also speed up nitrogen capacity boosts
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Nutrien, the world’s largest fertilizer producer, said Thursday it will increase its Canadian potash production by 20 per cent to an annual 18 million tonnes by 2025, helping to address tight supplies that have contributed to a global food shortage. Potash prices have soared since the West imposed sanctions against Russia for Moscow’s […] Read more
Kremlin says Putin ready to facilitate grain exports via Ukraine ports
Russia says will work with Turkey
Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in co-ordination with Turkey, according to a Kremlin readout of talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Besides the death and devastation sown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war and the West’s […] Read more
Fertilizer maker Yara says world faces extreme food supply shock
Sanctions cut global fertilizer supply 15 per cent, company says
Reading Time: 2 minutes Davos, Switzerland | Reuters — Norwegian fertilizer giant Yara says donors urgently need to close the U.N.’s $10 billion food programme funding gap to avoid a catastrophe as sanctions on Russian fertilizers and Ukraine’s grain export problems have created an extreme global shock. “The world has realized that food can be a weapon and it […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
