In this episode of Food for Thought Leadership, host Chris Campbell, Vice President of Content and Insights at The Food Institute, speaks with Brittany Borer, The Food Institute’s meteorologist turned food reporter, about the potential arrival and implications of a Super El Niño. Borer explains how a Super El Niño differs from a typical El Niño and examines its potential effects on global weather, including elevated temperatures, heavier precipitation, flooding, drought conditions, and ongoing water-management challenges in the American West.<br><br>The conversation focuses heavily on what these weather shifts could mean for agriculture and the broader food industry. Borer identifies coffee, rice, sugar, seafood, beef, dairy, tea, and cocoa among commodities vulnerable to price fluctuations. She and Campbell also discuss how food companies can prepare by monitoring crop conditions, futures prices, freight and export restrictions, and inventory levels. Borer recommends diversifying suppliers, considering ingredient substitutions, using seasonal and local alternatives, and establishing contingency plans before weather-related disruptions occur.

Food for Thought Leadership - Could Super El Niño Send Food Prices Higher?

The Food Institute Podcast

Hi everybody, it's Chris Campbell, Vice President of Content and Insights here at the Food Institute and welcome to another episode of Food for Thought Leadership. This week we have Brittany Borer, Food Institute's favorite meteorologist turned food reporter and we're going to be talking about a great and interesting topic and that is the Super El Niño. Before we start talking about it though, I did want to get a little bit of a baseline here. Part of the reason why we want to speak about it is because we do expect there's going to be some major agricultural impacts.

And just this week we've seen a bunch of information coming out including the World Food Program estimating that 49 million people could go into acute hunger because of the Super El Niño. Prior reports from JP Morgan showing that 0.7 percentage point increase in food inflation could be possible due to the Super El Niño. And even this week, Max Mochurero, the chief economist with UN's FAO, is also noting that we're expecting some increased inflation at the end of this year and really into 2027.

So taking a look at all these stats, I think it's really important to keep an eye on what is happening here with this global weather pattern. But when we were talking about it on the morning meeting, it kind of became apparent to us that we're not entirely sure what a Super El Niño really is. So Brittany, I was really hoping we could start off here today.

Food for Thought Leadership - Could Super El Niño Send Food Prices Higher?

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.

Food for Thought Leadership - Could Super El Niño Send Food Prices Higher?

Read the full transcript

The candid version is on a podcast, not the earnings call.

The candid version is on a podcast,
not the earnings call.