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https://theconversation.com/ukraine-produced-a-lot-of-grain-can-farmers-elsewhere-replace-the-crops-lost-to-war-180380>
"Ukraine and Russia produce a substantial amount of grain and other food for
export. Ukraine alone produces a whopping 6% of all food calories traded in the
international market. At least it used to, before it was invaded by the world’s
largest nuclear power.
Russia, meanwhile, is the world’s largest exporter of wheat, providing more
than 17% of all wheat sold across national borders. At least it used to, before
it was struck with some of the most severe international sanctions ever
inflicted. Any way you slice it, there’s a lot of bread this year that was
supposed to be sourced from Ukrainian or Russian wheat that definitely won’t
be. So naturally the question arises: if not from the Black Sea, from where
will come our daily bread?
When it comes to cereals like wheat, corn, rice and barley, the big players
talk about millions of metric tonnes, or MMTs. A single MMT of wheat contains
about 3.4 trillion food calories, which is enough to feed every person in
Europe for about two days, or the entire population of Africa for about a day
and a half – although, of course, people would still need vitamins and protein.
Ukraine produced about 80 MMT of grain (a category that includes wheat, corn
and barley) in 2021, and is expected to harvest less than half of that this
year. A shortfall of 40 MMT is enough missing calories that a country like the
UK could only make it up by having everyone stop eating for three years. That’s
the thing about tonnes of grain: a million here and a million there and pretty
soon you’ve got a real issue on your plate."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
