New research shows how disruption in wheat trade can affect food security (Phys.org) 

Phys.org published an article stating that global supply issues related to the pandemic and war in Ukraine have highlighted yet another global vulnerability: food availability. While international trade allows countries to buffer against domestic food shortfalls and gain access to larger markets, what happens when supplies run short, or the global supply chain slows or even breaks down as it did during the pandemic? A new University of California, Davis study titled “Connected and Extracted: Understanding how centrality in the global wheat supply chain affects global hunger using a network approach,” and co-authored by senior research fellow John Ulimwengu, sheds light on how trade, and centrality in the global wheat trade network, affect food security. The study shows that many countries depend on trade to fulfill their food needs. Further, the global wheat trade is concentrated in a handful of countries whereby disruption in only a few countries would have global impacts, researchers suggest.