As food inflation rears its ugly head, politicians lack the will or the correct tools to address it in the short or long term, according to the Guardian's economics editor, Heather Stewart.
Stewart laid out how extreme weather is creating price shocks to key crops like oranges and coffee beans. Meanwhile, politicians are not addressing the root causes or shielding consumers from the impacts.
What's happening?
Floods, droughts, and record-setting temperatures have disrupted crops globally with alarming frequency. While in the short term if a regional crop is disrupted, consumers and companies can pivot to different products or areas for sourcing, the trend is discouraging. Stewart cited a study published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment that expects impacts from climate change to add up to 3.2% to global food price inflation over the next 10 years.
Concerningly, politicians don't have great plug-and-play solutions. Raising interest rates "seems particularly ill-suited to dealing with climate-induced shortages" in Stewart's estimation. Forcing price caps or stockpiling crops are a couple of extreme solutions considered by economist Isabella Weber, per the Guardian. These measures might be unpopular or unwieldy for politicians to impose on companies or at taxpayers' expense.
A long-term solution is to invest in bettering the resilience of crops. That includes innovating with weather-resistant crops, researching how to better take on diseases and pests, and improving the defenses for floods. The problem is these remedies are all pricey and don't yield quick results.
"The things that actually work to tackle cost-of-living crises may not fit neatly into electoral cycles," argued economist Andrew Sissons in the Guardian piece.
Why is the lack of solutions for food inflation important?
While a more expensive latte might be a first-world problem, disruptions to global crops can be a real issue for less affluent regions and create food insecurity. It also can hit the livelihood of farmers and threaten industries.
The problem is also not going away, so a reluctance to invest in solutions is merely kicking the can down the road. The hotter the world gets and the more extreme conditions get, the worse the overall picture will be.
What's being done about food inflation?
Specific to the disruptions to crops like cocoa beans, inventive startups like Planet A Foods are developing alternatives that don't rely on conventional crops.
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Definitely 🙁 While it's certainly valid to question if there is enough investment in crop resiliency, there are many efforts by scientists globally to develop more robust crops.
On the greater issue of the dangerous warming of the planet, there are many organizations working to ensure that companies and governments are accountable for their lofty climate goals.
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