{
  "id": 4677361,
  "title": "Conflict and Climate Are Driving Food Prices Higher",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/conflict-and-climate-are-driving-food-prices-higher",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-08-31T17:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "OilPrice",
    "slug": "oilprice",
    "url": "https://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-General/Conflict-and-Climate-Are-Driving-Food-Prices-Higher.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Conflict and climate change are resulting in soaring food prices across the globe. Climate change is no longer a distant threat; it's a reality that is exacerbating human-caused conflicts. The combination of these factors is making matters worse and driving up the cost of food.\n\nIn Britain, farmers are warning of imminent food shortages due to a poor harvest and livestock deaths. The worst harvest since 1984, coupled with a surge in livestock deaths, has left many farmers without the funds to sow their fields next year. The cause lies in late rainfall, which has slashed yields, and the worst outbreak of bluetongue disease in sheep, caused by warmer temperatures that have led to a higher number of midges spreading the virus.\n\nClimate change also plays a role in the skyrocketing prices of fertilizer and diesel, which are essential for modern farming. These costs have risen due to curtailed supplies of fertilizer and diesel from the Persian Gulf, a major source, because of Iran's closure of the Strait of Hormuz in response to the attack on Iran by the United States and Israel. Diesel is in short supply due to Russian oil refineries being damaged, leading to a temporary halt in diesel exports from Russia, which is the world's second-largest oil producer.\n\nDrought is also causing significant problems in the southwestern United States, affecting both the Colorado River and the Rio Grande, which provide water for millions of people and agricultural activities. Drought conditions have spread to large areas of U.S. cropland, severely impacting crops like barley, durum wheat, rice, spring wheat, sugarbeets, sunflowers, and winter wheat. Cotton is also suffering, with 52% of cultivated area affected by drought.\n\nIn Europe, devastating heatwaves and drought are reducing yields of key crops such as corn, rice, and soybeans, as well as vegetable crops. France, for example, is experiencing a significant drop in vegetable production, with lettuce down 35%, peas down 40%, and broccoli down 60%.\n\nThe conflict between Iran and the U.S. and Israel has increased oil prices due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, affecting the price of refined products like gasoline. In Brazil, a shift to increasing ethanol production from sugar, driven by rising oil prices, has led to a decrease in sugar production. This shift in production has made it more profitable for Brazilian drivers to fill up with gasoline/ethanol mixes higher in ethanol, which requires increasing the ethanol portion of the gasoline/ethanol mix from 30% to 32%.\n\nThe ongoing conflict in Sudan, combined with the effects of El Nio, a weather pattern that can have both positive and negative effects on agriculture depending on the location, further highlights the complex interplay between conflict, climate change, and global food prices.",
  "summary": "Two weeks ago, I wrote about how conflict and climate change are combining to impede navigation across the globe. That same combination is also pushing food supply down and prices up worldwide. Climate change is no longer coming; it's here, and we're mixing it with our human folly in war in ways that make matters worse. A single headline can only tell a fragment of the story. For example,…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}