Right now, the attack on Iran by the US and Israel has sparked a major shipping crisis in the Strait of Hormuz. Beyond the death, displacement and suffering of people facing US-Israeli strikes, you might be hearing that this “shipping jam” is the unavoidable reason that your grocery bills might be about to skyrocket again.
The crisis brought on by this illegal attack by the US and Israeli militaries reveals a systemic failure at the heart of our global food system. Almost half of global food production now depends on synthetic fertilisers produced by a small number of fossil fuel and agrochemical giants, leaving families and farmers to pay the price the moment fragile supply chains break. While the human cost of the conflict continues to mount, the geopolitical shock is hitting farmers at the peak of the spring application season across much of the Northern Hemisphere, and driving up costs for farmers worldwide, with knock-on effects on harvests and food prices
But that is just a distraction. The shipping delay is just the symptom of a much more systemic problem. What we are really seeing is the effect of a rigged food system functioning exactly as Big Ag designed it: protecting corporate profits while squeezing everyday families.
Here is why a geopolitical shock away can make your food more expensive, and why we need to change the system fast.
Fossil Fuels Repackaged as Food
Behind the current crisis is a truth the agro-chemical industry doesn’t want you to know: our global food system is dangerously addicted to chemical fertilisers, which are essentially fossil fuels repackaged for the soil.
Fossil fuel and Big Ag giants use massive amounts of energy to turn natural gas and oil into synthetic nitrogen. Then, they ship these chemicals across the globe on massive vessels, relying heavily on fragile chokepoints like the Strait of Hormuz, where the US and Israeli attack on Iran is already causing massive disruption.
This isn’t just bad luck. It is a setup made by Big Ag and fossil fuel billionaires. The industrialised, monoculture-based agricultural system they have imposed on the world depletes our soil and reduces biodiversity, forcing farmers to depend on fossil fuel-based fertilisers while corporate giants pocket the profits. Now, at the peak of the spring planting season in the Northern Hemisphere, the supply chain has snapped.
Farmers are trapped in a volatile global market they cannot control, facing difficult choices such as paying drastically higher prices for fertilisers, reducing application rates, or switching crops. Any of these decisions leads to the same outcome: likely decline in crop production. The consequences then ripple through global supply chains and ultimately retail food prices, leaving families to foot the bill for corporate greed. Again.
Growing Feed Instead of Food
To make matters worse, the vast majority of these expensive, imported chemicals aren’t even used to grow food for humans. They are dumped onto endless fields to grow feed for factory-farmed animals.
The sheer, unsustainable scale of global industrial meat and dairy production supercharges this fragility. If we shifted away from resource-heavy, large-scale livestock operations and instead prioritised growing plants directly for human consumption, we wouldn’t be held hostage by these vulnerable supply chains.
The Emergency Exit: Ecological Farming
The good news? We have an emergency exit from this mess: ecological farming. It is the only real path to food sovereignty, independence, and local resilience.
Instead of buying expensive chemical pellets from a factory halfway around the world, farmers can work with nature instead of against it. By planting diverse types of crops, plants can naturally “fix” nutrients into the soil. This breaks the cycle of chemical dependence and does five amazing things at once:
- Saves Money: Farmers slash their costs by eliminating expensive chemicals, which protects your food prices from global shocks.
- Cleans the Water: It stops toxic chemical run-off from polluting our rivers and drinking water.
- Protects Wildlife: It restores space for bees, birds, and vital biodiversity to thrive.
- Fights Climate Change: It cuts the massive greenhouse gas emissions produced by the industrial food system.
- Increases Food Security: It reduces our dependence on imported food that is vulnerable to external shocks
Growing a Safer Future from the Ground Up
Real food security isn’t something we can buy from a chemical factory in another country. It is something we grow right at home, starting with healthy soil and local communities.
But to get there, we need to force our governments to stop propping up this fragile, billionaire-serving model. Right now, billions in public subsidies keep the industrial meat and chemical fertiliser pipeline flowing. That money must be redirected.
The crisis in the Strait of Hormuz is a warning we cannot ignore. Sign the petition today to stop Big Ag and build a food future that is affordable and resilient.
Amanda Larsson is the Food and Agriculture Global Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Aotearoa.
