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REPORT
May 2026
The New Geopolitics of Food
Navigating policies for resilient self-reliance
This page is automatically translated from the English original using DeepL and may contain errors.
A new geopolitics of food is reshaping global food security. Trade wars, conflicts, climate change, aid cuts, and political tensions are fuelling price volatility, worsening hunger, and strengthening corporate control. This turmoil is exposing just how fragile food systems built on global dependence and just-in-time supply chains have become.
The New Geopolitics of Food examines how many countries’ food systems are deeply vulnerable, dependent on distant markets, fragile supply chains, and a handful of powerful exporters and corporations – particularly low-income food consumers and import-dependent countries.
This special report highlights practical tools that can help countries stabilise prices, protect access to food, and reduce vulnerability to external shocks. Drawing on lessons from India, West Africa, Canada, and Norway, it explores how governments are already using food reserves and market management to support farmers and build resilience.
IPES-Food argues that governments must shift towards resilient self-reliance: strengthening domestic and regional food systems, reducing dependence on volatile global markets, and investing in agroecology, public food infrastructure, and fair, cooperative trade.
Jennifer Clapp, IPES-Food expert
We’re entering a new geopolitics of food, where food prices are shaped by conflict, trade disruption, and power play. Crisis after crisis exposes the risks of outsourcing food security to distant markets and fragile supply chains controlled by a handful of countries and companies.
The way forward is resilient self-reliance – local food systems backed by fair trade. The tools to stabilise prices already exist, from food reserves to supply management, but governments are not using them at scale.
Jennifer Clapp, IPES-Food expert
Shalmali Guttal, IPES-Food expert
For communities across the Global South, this is about whether people can afford to eat. When countries are forced to depend on imported food and farm inputs, every shock hits hardest at the local level – farmers, workers, and low-income families are the ones who pay the price. This system is not only fragile, it is unjust.
We need to rebuild food systems from the ground up, closer to home, with food sovereignty – stronger local production, fairer markets, targeted distribution systems and food subsidies, and the tools to protect people when shocks hit.
Shalmali Guttal, IPES-Food expert
Mamadou Goïta, IPES-Food expert & farmer
Geopolitical tensions are tightening the squeeze on Global South countries as they struggle to secure affordable food. As food and fertiliser import bills rise, so does debt, leaving governments with less room to act just when they need it most. This is why reducing dependence is not a choice, but a necessity.
We already have solutions. The West African regional food security reserve shows that cooperation and public tools can stabilise markets – what is needed now is the political will to scale these efforts, cut reliance on volatile global markets, and build lasting resilience.
Mamadou Goïta, IPES-Food expert & farmer
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