The number of people experiencing famine globally has jumped by an estimated 10 million since May.

Hunger crisis deepening, says Canadian Foodgrains Bank

Raging drought, inflation and conflict drive food shortages

Reading Time: 2 minutes Glacier FarmMedia – Fifty million people around the world are near to or experiencing famine, up from 40 million in May, according to the Canadian Foodgrains Bank. “There’ll be many malnourished. At least 20 per cent will be extremely malnourished,” said the organization’s executive director, Andy Harrington. Two out of every 10,000 of those people […] Read more

Wreckage of wheat silos at Lebanon’s Port of Beirut following an explosion at the port on Aug. 4, 2020. (Hiba Kallas/iStock/Getty Images)

Canada seeks to boost foreign aid for food security

Grain traffic out of Ukraine not yet easing crisis

Amman | Reuters — An international food crisis exacerbated by the Ukraine war has spurred Canada to boost an over $6 billion annual foreign aid budget to help the most hard-hit countries in Africa and the Middle East, Canada’s aid minister said on Thursday. “The Ukraine crisis is creating shock waves when it comes to […] Read more


File photo of a rainy day in Iqaluit. (Wildnerdpix/iStock/Getty Images)

Cold and hungry: Food inflation bites Canada’s North

'It's really expensive to do business here'

Iqaluit | Reuters –– In Canada’s remote North, residents have long paid dearly for food, and rising prices have worsened an already dire situation, exposing the vulnerability of one of the world’s biggest exporters of grains and meat. Communities in Nunavut — the largest of the three territories that make up Canada’s northernmost region — […] Read more

File photo of a lighthouse at the Ukrainian port of Chernomorsk on the Black Sea. (Larysa Shcherbyna/iStock/Getty Images)

Ukraine, Russia sign deal to reopen grain export ports

Russia says it 'won't take advantage' of de-mining of ports

Istanbul/Kyiv | Reuters — Russia and Ukraine signed a landmark deal on Friday to reopen Ukrainian Black Sea ports for grain exports, raising hopes that an international food crisis aggravated by the Russian invasion can be eased. The accord crowned two months of talks brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, a NATO member that […] Read more



File photo of a cornfield in the northern region of Luzon in the Philippines. (Nate Hovee/iStock/Getty Images)

Marcos vows to boost Philippines’ grains output

New president/ag min aims to avert food crisis

Manila | Reuters — Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed Monday to do what it takes to boost his country’s rice and corn production, seeking to reduce reliance on imports and avoid being hit hard by a food crisis now looming across the world. Marcos, who was sworn in as president last week and has […] Read more


WTO director-general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is congratulated by India’s commerce minister Piyush Goyal after the June 17, 2022 closing session of a WTO ministerial conference in Geneva. (Photo: Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via Reuters)

WTO strikes global trade deals deep into overtime

Deals reached on food security, health and fishing; formerly defiant India joins consensus

Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization’s 164 members approved a series of trade agreements early on Friday that included commitments on fish and pledges on health and food security after more than five gruelling days of negotiations. The deals were ground out over five days of bargaining at a conference of more than […] Read more



Nutrien’s head office building in Saskatoon. (Liam O’Connor photo)

Nutrien to further boost potash output amid global shortage

Company will also speed up nitrogen capacity boosts

Reuters — Nutrien, the world’s largest fertilizer producer, said Thursday it will increase its Canadian potash production by 20 per cent to an annual 18 million tonnes by 2025, helping to address tight supplies that have contributed to a global food shortage. Potash prices have soared since the West imposed sanctions against Russia for Moscow’s […] Read more

Cargo ships are docked in Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Nov. 4, 2016. (File photo: Reuters/Valentyn Ogirenko)

Kremlin says Putin ready to facilitate grain exports via Ukraine ports

Russia says will work with Turkey

London | Reuters — President Vladimir Putin said Monday that Russia was ready to facilitate the unhindered export of grain from Ukrainian ports in co-ordination with Turkey, according to a Kremlin readout of talks with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan. Besides the death and devastation sown by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the war and the West’s […] Read more