TITLE:
Reflections on Global Food Security, El Niño, and the Strait of Hormuz
AUTHORS:
Thomas J. Papadimos, Stanislaw P. Stawicki
KEYWORDS:
Weather, Armed Conflicts, Economics, Food Supply, Food Security
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Social Sciences,
Vol.14 No.9,
September
18,
2026
ABSTRACT: Food security is essential to our planet’s inhabitants. It requires a solid supply chain, which includes energy (oil and natural gas) and fertilizer (ammonia, sulfur, and phosphate sources). The current geopolitical dispute in the Strait of Hormuz is causing a disruption of important supply chains. This difficulty may be compounded by the Super El Niño that has been predicted. Under Super El Niño conditions, there will be a substantial rise in the waters of the Pacific Ocean causing a global effect. Normally, trade winds blow from east to west thereby directing the warm surface waters of the Pacific towards Asia and allow cool waters that are nutrient-rich to engulf the Pacific coast of South America. However, at this time, these trade winds are weakening, and the warm waters will instead head to the Americas. This will lead to climate changes throughout the planet, and these effects will be felt the most by the poorest of nations. Here we summarize our concern regarding the interaction of these two major events: the difficulties of supplies transiting the Strait of Hormuz and the predicted Super El Niño.