Greenpeace reacts to threat of Iran war on global food prices

The US / Israeli attack on Iran has had serious knock-on effects across the region. There are also many global consequences. The spike in oil and gas prices is relatively predictable. But there’s also a very direct impact on global food prices.

Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz is disrupting global fertiliser supply chains. And this in turn could lead to a surge in global food prices. Amanda Larsson is Global Big Ag project lead at Greenpeace Aotearoa. She said:

The crisis brought on by this illegal attack by the US and Israeli militaries reveals a systemic failure at the heart of our global food system.

Almost half of global food production now depends on synthetic fertilisers produced by a small number of fossil fuel and agrochemical giants, leaving families and farmers to pay the price the moment fragile supply chains break.

While the human cost of the conflict continues to mount, the geopolitical shock is hitting farmers at the peak of the spring application, threatening harvests across the Northern Hemisphere and knock-on effects on food prices.

The solution to food sovereignty, independence, and local resilience is the same as that needed to solve the climate and biodiversity crises: ecological farming. By working with nature to fix nutrients naturally in the soil, farmers can break the cycle of chemical dependence, slash costs, protect our rivers from toxic run-off, and ensure healthy, affordable food for generations to come.

Governments must stop propping up this fragile corporate model and redirect financial support away from resource-heavy, industrial agriculture. Food security cannot be bought on a volatile global chemical market; it must be grown from the ground up through healthy soil and local resilience.

It is time to fund the transition to self-sufficient, ecological practices that serve communities, not billionaires.

Featured image via the Canary