Ruben Bauer Naveira • June 20, 2026

This article is a warning. A global food crisis is likely approaching — driven by the collapse of supply chains feeding the agri-food system, a consequence of the war against Iran and the resulting blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. The prospect has gone largely unnoticed by most political and economic actors.

Supply crises, as a rule, are resolved through the Law of Supply and Demand. When supply falls, prices rise; those who can afford to pay grumble but pay, while those who cannot find a cheaper substitute. Or do without.

But we are talking about food — and food is indispensable to life.

To those who believe that “the market self-regulates” and that this supply crisis will therefore be absorbed through higher prices — costlier food, but food nonetheless — I would say: there is a threshold. Below a certain level of supply, the problem is no longer that food becomes expensive; the problem is that there is not enough food for everyone, regardless of how much money people have to spend. This article explains the dynamic well. If the Law of Supply and Demand is the global economy’s homeostatic mechanism — its way of restoring equilibrium after a shock — then supply chains are its Achilles’ heel.

Continue reading here:

https://www.unz.com/article/the-global-food-crisis/