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Ciara O'Rourke
By Ciara O'Rourke April 18, 2022

No, Biden’s comments don’t prove governments are orchestrating food shortages

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  • Food security experts have warned that the war in Ukraine could cause food shortages. President Joe Biden and other G-7 leaders recently met and discussed how to alleviate such a crisis. 
 

A video being shared on Facebook posits that governments around the world are orchestrating a food shortage and offers as evidence remarks President Joe Biden made in March. 

"Both talked about how we increase and disseminate food, food shortages," Biden is captured saying in a clip included in the video

"Oh, right," the video’s narrator can be heard saying. "You want to increase the spread of food shortages." 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

That quote is authentic, but if you look at Biden’s remarks in context, it’s clear that he apparently misspoke, and was actually talking about increasing and disseminating food around the world

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"We had a long discussion in the G7 with the, with both the United States, which has a significant — the third-largest producer of wheat in the world — as well as Canada, which is also a major, major producer, and we both talked about how we could increase and disseminate more rapidly food, food shortages," Biden said at NATO Headquarters in Brussels on March 24. "And in addition to that, we talked about urging all the European countries and everyone else to end trade restrictions on — on sending — limitations on sending food abroad. And so we are in the process of working out, with our European friends, what it would be, what it would take to help alleviate the concerns relative to food shortages." 

Politico, reporting on Biden’s meeting with other G-7 leaders, noted that they "pledged action … to address food shortages caused by Russia’s war on Ukraine."

We rate this post False.

Our Sources

Facebook post, March 26, 2022

David Beasley tweet, March 9, 2022

UN News, Ukraine: ‘We need peace now’ declares Guterres, warning of global hunger meltdown, March 14, 2022

France 24, War in Ukraine sparks concerns over worldwide food shortages, March 17, 2022

National Geographic, War in Ukraine could plunge world into food shortages, March 25, 2022

New York Times, Ukraine War Threatens to Cause a Global Food Crisis, March 20, 2022

Politico, G-7 leaders pledge action to address food shortages caused by war, March 24, 2022

The White House, Remarks by President Biden in Press Conference, March 24, 2022

 

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No, Biden’s comments don’t prove governments are orchestrating food shortages

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