Wheat prices in various markets spiked about 70% soon after last month’s outbreak of war in the region, a key supplier of grains and other commodities to the international market, and now are running 40% or more above February prices. A supply slowdown that might only bump up inflation in wealthy nations could create catastrophic outcomes in poorer ones, ranging from political unrest to deadly famines for areas that depend on Ukrainian and Russian crop imports.

Maryland Today spoke to several University of Maryland experts on the region’s agriculture and global grain markets: geographical sciences and College of Information Studies Assistant Professor Sergii Skakun, a native of Ukraine who works on several satellite-based remote sensing projects directed at the country, including NASA Harvest, NASA’s food security and agriculture program led by UMD; Inbal Becker Reshef, NASA Harvest’s program director and research professor in the Department of Geographical Sciences ; and economist and agricultural markets expert James MacDonald, research professor in the Department of Agriculture and Resource Economics.

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Wednesday, March 23, 2022