In mid July, Russia decided to put pressure on global countries that back Ukraine, by not allowing ships to leave the Ukraine filled with wheat. In Europe, the Ukraine is the breadbasket of Europe and Asia and for the last 6 months, Russia has allowed grain shipments from the Ukraine to go to Africa and Europe. Russian decided to stop and has fired rockets and drones with rockets at grain handling structures in the Ukraine.

In a related story, In an article by Rajendra Jadhav, Mayank Bhardwaj and Shivam Patel of Reuters, India which in a normal year accounts for 40% of the world rice exports, has ordered a halt in the export of rice. Rice grows in water and last month the monsoon rains caused heavy damage to many areas of India.

The non-basmati white and broken rice account for 10 million of the 22 million tonnes India exported last year. Parboiled rice has not included in the ban.

Rice is the staple for nearly 3 billion people and 90% of the water-intensive crop is grown in Asia. The top buyers of rice from India are: Thailand, Vietnam, Benin, Senegal, Ivory Coast, Bangladesh and Nepal.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, food security is a number one concern for billions of people on the planet and when climate changes, there will be effects. No one knows if the weather affects are permanent or when and if they will change however the fact is there was change and it takes time to adjust to the new normal. If the companies you invest in is trying to do something to stop further changes, perhaps the world will see it and continue to use the products and services the company offers or will people see how Russia made a bad situation worse?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.