First World Food Supplies

To increase profit margins, industrialized nations have made food delivery into a science. Grocery stores and many restaurants rely on “just in time” delivery, meaning they keep a low stock on hand and rely on regular shipments of products. If these shipments are delayed—even by just a few days—the shelves empty out. In turn, the customer must go without.

This principle was seen in living colour when ash from an Icelandic volcano hung over Europe, causing a continent-wide flight ban in April 2010. On top of air travellers being stranded, there was another troubling problem.

During that time, the Guardian reported, “Britain’s supermarkets could soon run short of perishable goods including exotic fruits and Kenyan roses as the ongoing ban on UK air travel brought Britain’s largest perishable air freight handling centre to a standstill…”

Realize that this airline disruption lasted just under a week. What if it continued?

Many First World nations are consistently producing and exporting less grains and vegetables, while they are increasing imports of such products. This leaves them wide open to massive food shortage if their suppliers fail to deliver.

For example, the United Kingdom imports about 90 percent of its fruit and 60 percent of its vegetables. Their fresh produce comes from all across the globe: broccoli and strawberries from Spain, apples from the United States, grapes from Egypt, carrots from South Africa, tomatoes from Saudi Arabia, asparagus from Peru, bananas from India, but also meat such as lamb from New Zealand.

For potatoes, England mostly looks to Israel. The British Potato Council reports that the UK imports over 385,000 tons of potatoes per year (Guardian).

Where would Britain be without regular shipments of fresh food? And this is just one wealthy nation—there are many others in the same position, some much larger.

Famine in just one part of the world, whether the Middle East, Africa, South America or elsewhere, can automatically mean shortages in many First World nations. The increasingly interconnected global economy means an increasingly fragile food supply. This fragility will become more obvious with each passing “incident.”