War, inflation and now drought are hitting global food supplies

War, tariffs and inflation are not the only things driving up the price of food. Widespread drought is also looming over what people around the world eat.

- SOMINI SENGUPTA

In Brazil, parched coffee farms have affected latte prices everywhere. In the US Midwest, years of poor rains have led ranchers to cull cattle herds and have raised beef prices to their highest levels ever.

In China, one of the nation's key wheat-producing regions, the Yellow River Basin, is withering under unusually hot, dry conditions. Germany had its driest spring since 1931, though rains in recent weeks have allayed concerns about its wheat and barley crops.

Ukraine and Russia, rivals on the battlefield, are also facing the threat of drought for their wheat crops. Both countries are breadbaskets for millions of people far and wide. Morocco, for instance, now in its sixth year of drought, has relied increasingly on wheat imports from Russia.

Conflicts in the Gaza Strip and Yemen, in addition to Ukraine, have also disrupted the food supply chain, including by increasing the costs of shipping. Now there's new conflict between Israel and Iran.

Droughts are part of the natural weather cycle but are exacerbated in many parts of the world by the burning of fossil fuels, which is warming the world and intensifying extreme weather. Droughts can be particularly risky as the production of important foods becomes increasingly concentrated. For example, much of the world's coffee comes from Brazil, cacao from Ivory Coast and Ghana in West Africa, and corn from Brazil, China and the US Midwest.