Soya is a protein-rich member of the legume family. It is partly used for human consumption, but mainly to feed livestock. A study published in Nature food on April 7 by scientists from the French National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment (Inrae) and AgroParisTech proves that sf we put our minds to it, Europe could be self-sufficient in soybeans.
This infographic is based on data from the Observatoire de la complexité économique. It gives an overview of the main wheat exporting countries in 2020 and where this cereal is exported. Wheat from Russia and Ukraine, the world’s largest and fifth-largest exporters respectively, feeds mainly Africa and the Middle East. It is therefore the countries in these regions that are most threatened by the current war. But they’re not the only ones.
As the risks associated with the climate crisis and global conflicts increase, seed banks are increasingly seen as an invaluable resource that could one day prevent a global food crisis. Two out of five plant species are threatened with extinction, and although researchers estimate that there are at least 200,000 edible plant species on our planet, we depend on just three of them – corn, rice and wheat – for more than half of humanity’s caloric intake.
