Yet food is still rarely treated as strategic. Governments focus more on energy security or trade routes than on staple grain flows or school meals, while the wider costs of agrifood systems – from malnutrition to environmental damage – are estimated at roughly US$12 trillion a year.
Financing continues to fall short of this scale of risk.
In 2025, price volatility, export limits and fertiliser shortages kept food systems under constant strain, with local markets remaining unstable even when global prices eased.
For low-income and fragile states, rising import costs collided with limited fiscal space, while major grain export curbs triggered fast regional ripple effects and stretched social protection systems even further.
Bridging the gap
A widening food resilience divide became unmistakable: wealthier and better-prepared countries invested in climate-resilient crops, diversified supply chains and early-warning systems, while others faced the same shocks with fewer resources each time.
Amid this turbulence, governments did not stand still.
The UN Food Systems Summit +4 – the global stocktake four years after the 2021 summit – showed that more than 150 governments are advancing their national food systems pathways, many aligning them with climate and biodiversity strategies.
The COP30 climate talks reinforced this direction by giving food and land use greater prominence in adaptation discussions.
Several countries expanded school meal programmes, adopted right-to-food legislation or redesigned subsidies to support healthier and more sustainable production.
These steps reflect a wider shift: food is increasingly understood as a foundation for stability, health and economic opportunity. The task for 2026 is to turn this momentum into protection for the people and communities most exposed to shocks.
Three priorities stand out for 2026.
First, treat food systems as strategic infrastructure by securing supply chains, diversifying import sources, strengthening local markets and supporting the workers who keep food moving.
Social protection must guarantee regular access to nutritious diets, especially for children and people in crisis-affected areas.
Second, finance resilience before emergencies hit. Funding still leans heavily towards crisis response rather than prevention.
