Miller Magazine Issue: 125 May 2020

17 NEWS MILLER / MAY 2020 million hectares of land, which is as large as Italy, turns to non-agricultural land each year around the globe because of urbanization, erosion, and industrialization. It is high time we question these phenomena in terms of the future of humanity. Agricultural land in the world can easily feed the whole population in the world in normal circumstances. Potential agricultural land constitutes 4,2 billion hectares of 13,2 billion hectares land of the earth. But only 38% of the potential land is being used for agriculture today. We have great potential to fulfill. We need to state that the future of humanity is not so bright without paying the necessary attention to the land, agriculture, and the environment. So it may be an opportunity for us that the Covid-19 process makes it clear that agriculture and food are vital for all. Secondly; it seems there are no physical constraints for seeding or harvesting processed for staple crops. Because wheat, corn, rice, pulse, and oilseed production processes are machine-intensive agricultural activities and we don’t need too much manpower. So we don’t expect any dis- ruptions for production because of the Coronavirus crisis. But the need for intensive manpower for vegetable and fruit picking creates some problems. In Europe, Ukraini- an seasonal workers cannot go to Poland. Much needed Georgian and Azerbaijani workers cannot travel to Turkey for tea harvesting. Even Turkish tea growers living in other regions of the country cannot go back to their land for the harvest season. National and regional governments now try to create some solutions to ensure agricultural activities to go on. Thirdly; deteriorating market expectations create prob- lems for the agriculture and food sector and there is no gap between supply and demand. We expect global pro- duction rise for grains, pulses, and oilseeds. Global wheat stocks have exceeded 180 million metric tons. But restric- tions and limitations cause price hikes. Global grain planted area was 545 million hectares in 2018-19 season and it is 558 million hectares now at 2020-21 season. Production is expected to increase from 2.142 billion tons to 2.222 billion tons. Soybean plantati- on area has also been increased by 2 million hectares to 128 million hectares and production is expected to reach 366 million tons by a rise of 4 million tons. SO WHAT ARE THE RISKS AND OPPORTUNITIES? A total of 88 countries introduced export bans for se- veral food products. 30 countries limited agriculture and food product exports or facilitated imports. Ukraine had declared that it will stop maze exports but canceled this decision soon after it became clear that there are no supp- ly shortages for maize in the local market. Russia banned grain exports until July since export quota of 7 million tons has already been reached. 30 countries including Serbia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Egypt, and Thailand declared restri- ctions for exporting a wide range of products like onion, garlic, rice, edible oils, grains, buckwheat, processed agri- cultural products, sugar, chicken meat and so on. These decisions will have global effects because Russia and Uk- raine wheat constitutes 20 percent of the wheat traded in the world. International institutions like the World Trade Orga- nization and the UN Food and Agriculture Organization have warned against measures restricting trade and access to food. US, Australia, Ukraine, Romania, and 20 other