Russia is winning the global grain war – POLITICO
▻https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-winning-global-grain-war-farmer-ukraine-putin-agriculture
Farmers across Europe have taken to the streets this year, convinced that cheap Ukrainian produce spilling over the border is to blame for their woes.
The mass protests have forced EU governments from Warsaw to Paris to make huge concessions to farmers, and have sent Kyiv’s political ties with its Western allies spiraling to their weakest since Russia’s full-scale invasion over two years ago.
Newly reelected Russian President Vladimir Putin must be rubbing his hands with glee.
After all, he is the real mastermind behind the crisis.
The main reason why EU farmers can’t sell their own goods this year has nothing to do with Ukraine and its huge agricultural sector.
Instead, it is Russia, whose own record farm output — and world-beating exports — have driven crop prices down to the point where farmers everywhere are hurting.
“It’s absolutely the case that Russia is using its food exports, particularly wheat exports, as a form of soft power,” said Caitlin Welsh, director of the Global Food and Water Security Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies and co-author of a recent paper on Russia’s growing dominance of global agricultural markets at Ukraine’s expense.
Aided by extremely favorable weather, Russia has grown unprecedented amounts of wheat over the past two years and sold it cheaply on the world market.
