As extreme weather accelerates global food inflation, Slow Food calls on governments ahead of COP31 to invest in agroecological food systems to protect harvests, support farmers, and build resilient food systems.
Food is becoming more expensive for a reason that many consumers still do not see. Increasingly, the price on supermarket shelves reflects the combined effects of climate-related crop losses, geopolitical tensions, higher energy and input costs, and disruptions to global trade. While conflict and supply chain disruptions continue to unsettle global markets, extreme weather is placing growing pressure on harvests and food supplies. As climate shocks become more frequent and severe, their impact cascades through the entire food system, reaching farmers and consumers worldwide.
For Slow Food, the latest wave of food inflation exposes the fragility of a model built around a narrow range of crops, costly external inputs and long, concentrated supply chains. Agroecology offers a practical alternative, helping farmers withstand climate and economic shocks while protecting biodiversity and strengthening local food systems.
“Climate change is no longer just an environmental issue; rising food prices are increasingly one of the visible costs of climate failure,” says Edward Mukiibi, President of Slow Food. “When droughts destroy harvests, floods damage crops and unpredictable weather undermines farmers’ livelihoods, the bill doesn’t stop at the farm. It reaches local markets, pushes up prices and hits hardest those households that can least afford to pay more for food. Governments keep reaching for short-term fixes while ignoring solutions already working on the ground. Across our network, particularly through Slow Food Farms, local communities demonstrate daily that we can produce food in ways that are economically viable, ecologically sound, and socially just. By reducing their dependence on costly external inputs, strengthening local supply chains, and protecting biodiversity, these farmers are building real climate resilience. We don’t need to invent new solutions. We need the political will to support and expand the ones that already exist”.
Climate shocks generate a double burden: they reduce farmers’ incomes while bringing higher prices to consumers. But the impact is uneven. Across the world, the consequences of rising food prices differ, but they are consistently felt most sharply by those with the least economic security. While some households face increasing pressure on their budgets, others are pushed into food insecurity and hunger.
These crises also expose the risks of a food system increasingly reliant on a few global commodities, trade routes and powerful corporations. Corporate concentration does not cause climate, geopolitical or energy shocks alone, but it can amplify their effects. According to the Agribusiness Atlas 2026, dominant companies can exert greater influence over prices and capture disproportionate profits during crises, widening the gap between what farmers earn and consumers pay.
Following the Ukraine shock, for instance, fertilizer prices tripled and the nine largest fertilizer companies more than tripled their profits compared with pre-pandemic levels. Over the same period, 65 million more people faced acute food insecurity.
The latest wave of food inflation is a warning that resilience can no longer be an afterthought; it is a prerequisite for food security. Building that resilience requires not only changes in agricultural production, but also more diverse markets, fairer supply chains and a better distribution of power and value across the food system.
The Science Behind Agroecology
A recent study published in Scientific Reports, based on data from more than 30,000 farming households in 17 countries, found that the adoption of a wider range of agroecological practices was associated with lower levels of food insecurity. But agroecology does not stop at the farm gate. Evidence also points to the role of local and regional food networks in making healthy food more accessible while supporting small-scale producers. As recently highlighted by IPES-Food public markets, cooperatives, direct sales and community-based food networks play an important role in food security and resilience, particularly for low-income communities in Africa, Asia and Latin America.
By connecting producers more directly with consumers, territorial markets can help small-scale farmers retain more of the value generated by their work while improving communities’ access to fresh and healthy food. They also offer an alternative to highly concentrated distribution systems in which a limited number of companies exercise significant control over prices and market access.
Together, these findings point to the need to look beyond individual farming practices and support agroecological food systems as a whole: from the way food is produced to how it is distributed, marketed and made accessible to communities.
What climate-resilient food systems look like
Across the Slow Food network, farmers and communities are already demonstrating what climate resilience looks like in practice. In Argentina, agroecological producers are restoring ecosystems while improving the economic sustainability of their farms. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, communities are protecting traditional seeds, strengthening food sovereignty and safeguarding Indigenous knowledge. In Thailand, coffee growers are working collectively to retain control over land, water and seeds while reducing dependence on increasingly volatile agricultural markets. In Greece, farmers are using agroecological practices to preserve soil health and protect biodiversity.
Together, these experiences illustrate how locally rooted solutions can contribute to more resilient food systems and why investment in agroecology should be part of the response to the climate, geopolitical and economic pressures contributing to food inflation.
“The UN World Food Programme recently warned that tens of millions could face acute food insecurity due to compound climate events like El Niño”, Mukiibi adds. “Food security is not only about producing more. It’s about ensuring access to healthy food for all, guaranteeing farmers a fair income, and building food systems that don’t collapse under climate stress. Agroecology ties all these threads together, protecting biodiversity, preserving food cultures, and securing territorial rights. If climate change is increasingly pushing food prices higher, alongside geopolitical tensions and energy and trade disruptions, then food systems must be at the center of climate negotiations. As governments prepare for COP31, they have an opportunity to move beyond rhetoric and invest in the agroecological transition that many communities are already demonstrating on the ground”.
With world leaders preparing for COP31, Slow Food urges governments to recognize agroecology as a core climate adaptation strategy. This means redirecting agricultural support towards diversified, biodiversity-based local farming systems, while investing beyond the farm in local and regional markets, shorter supply chains and distribution systems that connect producers more directly with consumers.
It also means addressing excessive corporate concentration and building fairer markets where farmers have greater bargaining power and communities are less exposed to climate, geopolitical and energy shocks.
Supporting agroecological food systems from production to distribution can reduce reliance on fragile global supply chains, strengthen local economies and improve access to healthy food.
Resources
Slow Food Agroecology Brief https://www.slowfood.com/wp-
https://www.nature.com/
https://ipes-food.org/report/
https://ipes-food.org/
Slow Food is a global movement that unites local groups and activists around a shared vision: ensuring that everyone has access to food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet. Founded in Italy in 1986 as a response to the growing industrialization of food and the rise of fast food culture, Slow Food has since expanded its reach to more than millions of supporters in 160 countries worldwide.
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