Russia’s drought, which spurred the biggest wheat-price rally since 1973, may push world food costs higher as shortages create “panic” among importers, Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, said Tuesday.

Sparse precipitation will become more common as global warming creates more volatile weather, Brown said. Russia’s export ban on wheat, imposed last week, is a harbinger of future governmental actions as food scarcity becomes the norm, Brown said. “Importers become nervous” when exporters restrict trade, he said.

(Bloomberg)