Grain shortage could cause food crisis in Ireland by the winter

Farmer Oleksandr Zhuravsky checks the wheat in a field in the Donetsk region, Ukraine. Russian hostilities are preventing crops from leaving the "breadbasket of the world" and making food more expensive across the globe. Picture: Efrem Lukatsky/AP

Ireland could be heading into a winter food crisis, with extreme weather and Russia's invasion of Ukraine putting severe strain on global supplies, one of Ireland's foremost climate scientists has warned.

Maynooth University professor of physical geography (climate change) Peter Thorne, who was a contributing author on the recent UN-backed International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports, said grain stock would be “hugely expensive” during the winter and could affect food for people and animals alike.