Weaponizing Food
With your Southeast Regional Ag News, I am Haylie Shipp. This is the Ag Information Network.Weaponizing Food.
Russia’s war in Ukraine, which started one year ago, has impacted food security and increased food inflation, according to U.S. National Security Council Spokesperson John Kirby…
“Putin has weaponized food. He's weaponized energy and oil, he's weaponized information, clearly, and he's also tried to weaponize food. And Mr. Lavrov, his foreign minister, will fly around to places in Africa and Latin America and claim that the reason why there's food shortages or high inflation for food products is because of the West propagating all this conflict in Ukraine. And of course, we all know that to be a bald-faced lie.”
He says the unprovoked war started by Russia has an impact on global food security…
“Mr. Putin’s war, a war he chose, has in fact had an impact on food prices around the world and in the availability of particularly grains, not just grains, but predominantly grains coming out of Ukraine. And it's important that we understand the reverberations of that decision by Mr. Putin, to move into Ukraine and what that's done to food security all around the world. There is a direct tie to what's going on in Ukraine and what's getting on or not getting on kitchen tables around the world.”
Kirby says that the agreement to allow grain exports from Ukraine is helping.