First look: Administration picks food security envoy (Axios) 

Axios reports that the Biden admin’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken is appointing a global food security envoy as the war in Ukraine continues to disrupt global grain supplies. This matters because it is meant to bring high-level political attention to the issue. According to IFPRI, Russia and Ukraine export almost 30% of the globe’s wheat. Fighting in Ukraine has disrupted the world’s cereal crop supply. Nearly 40 million people could be pushed into food insecurity and poverty by 2022 as a result of the war, according to World Bank estimates. This is in addition to the 161 million people driven into food insecurity as a result of the pandemic and other world conflicts. The war has already caused a significant drop in those exports as Ukrainian farmers flee their country. Russia has also aimed missiles at food security facilities.