Μake us preferred on Google Will we go hungry? It may sound like an odd question, but it has been on my mind for some time.
Some voices are urging us to stockpile basic goods. The British government recently told citizens to keep at least 72 hours’ worth of emergency supplies at home as part of its “Be Ready” campaign. The war in Ukraine, which began in February 2022, grinds on. The Persian Gulf is in turmoil. The world seems to have lost its mind. And after all, there is no such thing as a stupid question.
More and more people can’t afford to eat well
Food prices are soaring, hitting both our wallets and our quality of life. For many people, what they eat now matters less than simply getting by. This used to be mostly the reality of the Global South. Now we are seeing it in 21st-century Europe.
It’s time to talk about the illusion of food security, and to add the rest to the equation: speculation on food, food waste, and the pressure that climate change, economic crises and geopolitical upheaval put on farmers. EU policy is part of it too. The Mercosur agreement creates unfair competition, and there are moves to promote insects as food instead of fruit and vegetables, without anyone asking us.
What causes hunger?
So what is really behind hunger? Falling output? Speculation? Wars?
“Hunger on our planet is mainly due to the fact that the food we produce is neither used nor distributed fairly, so not everyone has access to sufficient, nutritious food at affordable prices,” agrifood sustainability consultant Elena Danali told Ta Nea.
She argues that the agrifood model urgently needs to be rebuilt, which means radically changing how we produce, distribute and consume food. In practice, she says, that means redirecting subsidies toward local, diversified, resilient and fair food systems, growing food for people rather than fuel and animal feed, and promoting the Mediterranean diet of legumes and local, seasonal produce. The Mediterranean diet is widely recognized as the best for both people and the planet.
The water footprint
This brings us to the real story: the water footprint. Before it is too late, we need a serious debate about cutting water waste and choosing foods that use less water, instead of relying only on grand engineering projects.
“Most of the world’s farmland depends on rainfall, so we are heading toward disaster unless we urgently make our agrifood model sustainable, fair and resilient,” Danali warns.
Nikos Charalambides, director of Greenpeace Greece, notes that a quarter of the world’s cropland is irrigated, and about a third of that already faces extremely high water stress. “Agriculture is the main driver of water scarcity worldwide,” he says. “It accounts for 70% of all the water humans use, and it is a major source of water pollution.” He adds that 41% of agricultural water use goes to producing animal feed rather than food for people.
750 million hungry, yet 30% of food is wasted
“We don’t need to blindly increase production,” says Danali. She calls the argument that a growing population needs more food absurd, and says it is pushed by the agrochemical and agribusiness giants that control today’s industrial model.
“The reality is that 750 million people face hunger today, while every year we throw away 30% of the food we produce, worth about $940 billion,” she says. Europe alone throws away 88 million tons a year, and Greece is no exception. Hunger, in other words, is not caused by a shortage of food. It is caused by unequal access to it.
The games behind our food
The question is also what kind of food we will have. The European Parliament has approved a European Commission proposal to exempt many new genetically modified organisms from existing safety rules.
“Farmers in Europe will pay a high price,” Danali argues. They will depend more and more on a handful of seed companies and risk being sued by the multinationals that hold the patents. Just four companies already control more than 60% of the global seed market. Greenpeace experts add that there is no convincing evidence GMOs will hold up against climate change, and that corporate control makes it harder for farmers to get varieties suited to local conditions.
Where Greece should focus
After storms Daniel and Elias flooded Thessaly, Charalambides says Greece urgently needs a fair, sustainable and resilient agrifood model nationwide. On water, he calls for binding targets to cut waste, rational management plans for every farming region, limits on water-hungry crops such as cotton, and a remapping of natural water flows. He also wants small dams on rivers and streams, instead of costly megaprojects, so farmers can store water for irrigation and the flood risk goes down.
Danali warns against relying only on more efficient irrigation. That, she says, would simply make the same unjust industrial model more productive, “which solves absolutely nothing.”
Follow the money
So, will we go hungry? I don’t have an answer. What I do see is that every day, more people are struggling to eat well.
And why is this happening? Because there’s a lot of money at stake. It’s that simple.
