Famine begins when soil is degraded, fertility declines and water is polluted and scarce.
According to a new analysis released by the World Food Program on March 17, 2026, the total number of people around the world facing acute levels of hunger could reach record numbers in 2026 if the escalation in the Middle East continues to destabilize the world’s economy. WFP estimates that almost 45 million more people could fall into acute food insecurity or worse (known as IPC3+) if the conflict does not end by the middle of the year, and if oil prices remain above $100 a barrel. These would add to the 318 million people around the world who are already food insecure.
This sobering assessment comes at the same time as we are celebrating National Agriculture Week here in the U.S. and reminds us that wars and conflicts are destructive to agricultural lands and sever the soil-water-biological relationships necessary for food and nutrition security and rural livelihoods. Famine begins when soil is degraded, fertility declines and water is polluted and scarce. Plants, trees and animals cannot thrive or survive, and farmers do not have the capacity to produce food for animals and people when their natural resource base is polluted and severely damaged. War and conflict contaminate and poison streams, rivers, lakes and reservoirs. Military activities destroy forests and vegetation; heavy tanks and artillery compact the soil; fuel oil, explosives, hazardous materials and chemical weapons pollute waters; and alter soil morphological, physical, chemical and biological properties.
As we reflect on the tremendous accomplishments and contributions of U.S. agriculture this week, we also recognize that reconstruction and remediation of war-ravaged agricultural lands require urgent responses and systems approaches that reconnect critical soil-water-biological relationships to ensure agricultural, food and nutritional productivity and occupational and food safety. Given this imperative, Solutions from the Land (SfL) has proposed 12 overarching Reconstruction of Agricultural Lands Principles to guide policy, planning and implementation to enable the co-production of food and nutrition security and natural resource reclamation and resilience. We commend them to national and global leaders for their thoughtful consideration.
Over the last two decades, SfL has been actively involved in elevating the voices of farmers and the roles they serve in delivering land-based solutions to global challenges. The centerpiece of SfL platform is that farmers and their representative organizations must be fully recognized as core design and implementing partners in the reconstruction and regeneration of agricultural lands and waters. While there are no quick fixes to remediate, rebuild and reconstruct ag landscapes, there is a need for both immediate short-term responses and longer-term system approaches to reclaiming soil and water resources for productivity. Decontamination and remediation of soils, including land mine and unexploded ordnance removal are necessary to restore soil functions and safe access to ag lands. Waterborne pollutants must be removed and functional water infrastructure restored.
Research on war-ravaged agricultural lands needs to become a high national and global priority. Farmers must be key partners in helping scientists develop research agendas and experimenting with new approaches and technologies. Just as important for land and water remediation will be the need for strong institutional support, collaboration among agricultural organizations, environmentalists, “ordinary” citizens and their governments, and public and private financing. Congruent with SfL strategies for agriculture to produce an abundant and nutritious food supply, accelerated science-based knowledge and decision making in conjunction with farmer and indigenous innovation are needed. Further, farmers need access to a “solutions toolbox” that encompasses all available tools, technologies, innovations, scientific, technical and traditional approaches appropriate to geographies, ecosystems and watersheds, cultures and a wide variety of agricultural/forestry systems and scales.
Investments in post-conflict restoration projects and programs should involve farmers and a range of farm sizes (large, medium and small) as well as vulnerable groups (women, indigenous peoples, youth). These projects can provide practical lessons on war-ravaged agricultural landscape remediation and strategies and methods for restoration management of soil and freshwater resources. They also provide investment frameworks that allow farmers, farmer organizations and agricultural value chains to rebuild their food and agricultural systems and develop public–private partnerships, risk-sharing instruments, and aggregation models that improve access to finance.
Wars and conflicts are destructive to agricultural lands and waters necessary for food and nutrition security and rural livelihoods. Reconstruction and remediation of war-ravaged agricultural lands require farmers active participation in developing urgent responses and systems approaches that ensure agricultural, food and nutritional productivity and occupational and food safety. Waiting is not an option. We must find ways and resources to begin to heal our lands and waters.
Dr. Lois Wright Morton, Farmer and specialty crop grower, Pierpont, Ohio USA Outwash Terrace – Pierpont, Ohio ; Professor Emeritus, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Criminology and Sociology, Iowa State University, Ames Iowa USA; Board of Directors Solutions from the Land
