Farmers warn of unavoidable ‘calorie crisis’
Farmers warn of unavoidable ‘calorie crisis’
Patrick GalbraithSat, June 13, 2026 at 9:20 AM UTC
0
Tom Bradshaw, president of the National Farmers' Union, says 10pc of global fertiliser manufacturing has been lost since the Iran war began - Geoff Pugh
Farmers have warned of an unavoidable "calorie crisis" as the war in Iran starts to squeeze fertiliser supplies.
Tom Bradshaw, the president of the National Farmers' Union (NFU), warned that the Middle East conflict looked likely to spark a "global fertiliser shortage, which will reduce food production".
He added: "Unfortunately there is a global calorie crisis coming and it can probably not be averted now."
Around a third of the world's nitrogen fertiliser supply passes through the Strait of Hormuz, which has been blockaded since the US and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February. The Strait is also a vital trade route for sulphur, which is a key fertiliser ingredient.
Mr Bradshaw estimated that 10pc of global fertiliser manufacturing has been lost since the war began.
Fertiliser is crucial to feeding the world's growing population. Production of around 50pc of the world's calories is dependent on chemical fertiliser.
Mr Bradshaw, who is also a farmer in Essex, told The Telegraph that this meant food prices could soon start going even higher.
Currently, fertiliser prices for farmers in the UK are up around 30pc since the start of the war, to £485 per tonne.
Earlier this week, Mr Bradshaw called on the Government to intervene and provide farmers with direct support if prices go above £500. The NFU has warned that there is a risk that farmers will cease food production if they cannot cover their fertiliser costs.
Advertisement
Supermarkets, meanwhile, have sounded the alarm on higher prices for shoppers.
The British Retail Consortium said the conflict in the Middle East was pushing up costs of both food production and shipping.
A spokesman for the industry group said: "The longer the conflict goes on, the more it will feed into inflation. Certain products will be affected more than others, such as fertiliser-rich products or energy-intensive products like produce grown under glass."
The grain price is dependent on the global market. Although Britain risks a crunch in grain supplies, the price being paid to British farmers for their crop has decreased to just £175 per tonne, as grain is also currently being harvested in other parts of the world, such as Texas and Oklahoma.
'We are in a food and farming emergency'
Neil White, a barley grower in the Scottish Borders, told The Telegraph that farming costs have risen but prices had not.
He said: "There's only one thing in my farmyard that you can buy for the same price as you bought it for 12 years ago, and that's the barley in my shed ... My fertiliser, my machinery, everything else has just followed a trend. We seem to have lost a correlation between the cost of production and the price of our produce."
Mr White said he knew farmers in Scotland who are not planting crops because the sale prices would not cover their overheads.
Victoria Atkins, the shadow environment secretary, said: "I have been warning for the last eight months that we are in a food and farming emergency.
"Now, in an era of increasing uncertainty in global supply chains, we face the realistic prospect of food shortages. Everything this Government is doing, from the family farm tax to reduced farming payments, to the forthcoming fertiliser tax, is making the situation worse.
"Labour must now do what is necessary to keep food on supermarket shelves."
Source: “AOL Money”
