Episode 20: Grain Corridors and Empty Plates: The New Geography of Food Security

Circus AND Circuit: Unraveling Global Trade with Kate Foronda

What does it take to keep the world fed?

In 2023, more than 345 million people faced acute food insecurity. At the same time, global grain movement was repeatedly interrupted by conflict, climate shocks, droughts, and rising transport risks. In Episode 20, Kate Foronda examines how these pressures are changing the very routes that deliver wheat, rice, corn, and other staples to the world’s most vulnerable populations.

This episode explores how nearly 33 million tonnes of grain left the Black Sea corridor during the first year of the UN-backed initiative, with 65 percent going directly to developing countries. It also looks at the consequences of limited water levels in the Panama Canal, which slowed grain shipments between the Americas and Asia, and the effect of attacks in the Red Sea that added 10 to 14 days to delivery times for food-importing nations in Africa and the Middle East.

Kate draws on her academic background in agricultural economics and her field experience supplying wheat and rice to countries such as Haiti and across West Africa. Through these stories, listeners see how quickly prices can double when ports close, how droughts can cut soybean harvests in Argentina by half, and how heatwaves in India forced the government to restrict rice exports that millions rely on.

The episode also highlights the essential work of global food programs. The World Food Programme assisted 152 million people last year, with more than 28 million receiving nutrition-specific support. Programs like Food for Progress and McGovern–Dole Food for Education depend on the same shipping routes as commercial markets, which means every corridor disruption carries humanitarian consequences. Kate also shares insights from her recent discussion with David Beasley, former Executive Director of WFP, about the future challenges the world must confront.

Episode 20 brings clarity to the emerging “new geography” of food security. It explains how changing grain corridors, climate risks, and political tensions influence everything from the price of bread to the stability of entire regions.

LISTEN NOW to understand how global food truly moves, and what it takes to keep it moving.

@ Katsiaryna "Kate" Foronda

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