05 May 2023 , 10:09
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Supermarket food prices could soon be on the rise again as supplies battle with an ever-growing issue of fungus killing off their crops.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has added to food supply chain pressures, particularly in relation to rising costs for fertilisers, animal feed and energy.
Russia and Ukraine supply key produce to parts of the world where food supply is already under pressure.
North Africa and the Middle East import significant amounts of cereal, wheat and barley from both countries, and Ukraine is an important supplier of maize to the EU and China.
But a growing threat from fungal attacks could see the prices at Tesco, Sainsburys and the like rise once more.
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Scientist say the failing to tackle fungal pathogens could lead to a “global health catastrophe” and threaten the future food supply for us all.
Crops attacked by fungus (De Agostini via Getty Images)
Whole crops can be wiped out (Getty Images/iStockphoto)Fungi are already by far the biggest destroyer of crops already as they are highly resilient, travel long distances on the wind and can feast on an entire crop.
They are extremely adaptable with many now resistance to common fungicides.
Prof Sarah Gurr, at the University of Exeter in the UK, a co-author of the report, said fungi had recently come to public attention through TV show The Last of Us which sees fungi infect human brains.
She said: “While that storyline is science fiction, we are warning that we could see a global health catastrophe caused by the rapid global spread of fungal infections.
"The imminent threat here is not about zombies, but about global starvation.”
Prof Gurr's article published in the Nature, a scientific journal, says that fungal disease already claims between 10 and 23% of growers crops each year.
In the five most important crops – rice, wheat, maize, soya beans and potatoes – fungal infections cause annual losses in food that could feed hundreds of millions of people.
Fungi made up the top six in a recent list of pests and pathogens with the biggest impact.
Prof Gurr added: “After tornadoes in America, you can see the spores have been sucked up and gone on long distance voyages.
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“If we don’t have enough to eat, malnutrition will kill us before we get anything like Covid-19 did.
“But our [research area] is absolutely penniless compared with every medical disease you could imagine."
The researchers said fungal pathogen research was seriously underfunded, comparing the £550m allocated to Covid-19 research by the UK Research and Innovation council from 2020 to 2022 compared to just £24m for fungal crop research over the same period.