Why Ravaging Heatwaves Matter to World’s Dinner Table

To see the impact of record-breaking temperatures around the world, watch wheat. Found in everything from bread to noodles, biscuits to cereals, beer to cakes -- there is no more widely grown staple crop and more than 170 million metric tons trade every year. So when the weather ruins harvests in one spot, it can shock markets and economies that are thousands of miles away.

It’s a weak global harvest, but not a disaster. The biggest growers -- Russia, Australia and the European Union -- have been hurt by heat or widespread drought and as a result, the world is heading for the first deficit in six years. While harvests in some places, especially northern Europe, have been terrible and cost farmers billions of dollars, no one is expecting major shortages. Farmers are coming off years of bumper harvests and stockpiles will help buffer the effects of a poor crop.