Global food security has moved from a background concern to a central economic and political risk. A combination of extreme weather patterns and geopolitical unrest is compressing supply, inflating costs and pushing millions closer to hunger or forced migration.
Hotter temperatures and more erratic rainfall are reducing yields in key agricultural regions. In addition to direct crop losses, there is the compounded impact on livestock health, nutritional density, and soil fertility. As events like simultaneous harvest failures across major breadbaskets become more likely, the predictability that once defined agricultural investing is being replaced by an urgent need for mitigation strategies.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine exposed the fragility of global supply chains for essential inputs such as fertilisers and grains. The inflationary shock from that disruption continues to be felt in net-importing nations, where limited alternatives and policy lag have left food prices elevated. In parallel, decades-old economic reforms in parts of the developing world, which shifted focus from local subsistence crops to export-oriented cash crops, have left these countries deeply reliant on imported staples now priced at a premium.
As governments introduce large-scale public programmes such as the EU’s Farm to Fork Strategy and the US Inflation Reduction Act, the door is opening for private capital to participate in reshaping the food system. While some firms may approach this through labelled sustainable investment vehicles, others will likely gain exposure through equity and credit in businesses supporting more efficient, lower-impact agricultural and logistical models.
Ruffer Investment Company Limited (LON:RICA) is a British investment company dedicated to investments in internationally listed or quoted equities or equity related securities
