Food Is Hot Campaign Issue in Elections From Argentina to Poland
With wars, trade bans and climate change, protecting consumers and farmers is playing a major role in politics. We look at some key countries.
A Ukrainian farmer planting sunflower seed on a farm in Yemchykha, Ukraine.
Photographer: Andrew Kravchenko/BloombergWhether it’s bread or onions, food has the power to make or break a country’s leadership. How nations secure their staples is looming large in elections across the world with war in Ukraine and now the Middle East.
Starting with New Zealand and Poland this weekend, at least a quarter of the global population will head to the polls over the next eight months or so. Those countries will be followed by Argentina, the Netherlands and Egypt, and then Indonesia and India in 2024. Among them are some of the top suppliers of everything from rice and palm oil to milk and soymeal. Others are strategic locations for the flow of staples like wheat.