Fresh food supplies have been disrupted as a result of flooding and flood damage. The recent flooding on Australia’s east coast has inundated vegetable crops in low lying areas of the Lockyer Valley near Brisbane, an important area of horticultural production.įresh food supplies have been damaged in warehouses and the Brisbane Markets is closed as a result of flood damage. Shocks affect our entire food systemĬlimate and pandemic shocks have impacts throughout our food system – from production to consumption. We need more government leadership to strengthen the resilience of our food supply chains to the very likely future shocks. Governments in Australia currently rely mainly on the food industry to shore up the resilience of food supply chains to disasters and on charities to ensure that people are fed through emergency food relief. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has warned that extreme weather events – like floods, heatwaves, fires and droughts – will become more frequent and more severe in Australia due to climate change.Īnd this is likely to lead to more frequent disruptions to food supplies and rising food prices. Picture: Getty ImagesĮmpty supermarket shelves and temporary food shortages are becoming more common in Australia, due to disruptions in food supply related to the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme weather events. Shocks like floods and COVID-19 can affect a large number of people through temporary food shortages.

Stores are running short of fresh food in parts of northern NSW and Queensland, and the major supermarkets have introduced buying limits on some foods in flood-affected areas. And thousands of people in flood-affected areas are feeling the impacts of the floods on their lives, including their access to food. Australia is currently facing another “unprecedented” weather event with extreme flooding in Queensland and New South Wales.

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