Cheap Food Was a Pillar of Political Stability. Climate Is Pulling It Out.
Forget the grocery receipt for a moment — the bigger stakes here are about who governs, and how. New research cited by the Financial Times estimates climate shocks could add 0.9 to 3.2 percentage points to global food inflation every year by 2035. That's not just a budgeting problem. Historically, sustained food price pressure is one of the most reliable predictors of political unrest, government collapse, and mass migration.
Bottom Line
THE BOTTOM LINE: A single research estimate isn't destiny, but the direction of travel is clear — the era of reliably cheap food is under threat, and the consequences run through statehouses and foreign ministries, not just supermarkets. Food inflation that governments can't control with normal economic tools is historically one of the fastest routes from economic grievance to political crisis. This is a slow-motion stability risk worth tracking now, not in 2035.