The aim of our map is to visualise global cereal imports to understand how reliant countries are on international trade and the potential impacts of foodshocks such as climate disasters and war.
The flowmap shows the cereal imports/exports for each country in 2022 with arrows of proportional size and colour which change with the foodshock magnitude.
Global Cereal Trade
“Visualising the impacts of foodshocks on international cereal trades”
What it is about
How we built it
Our project can be broken down into three sections: data collection, data processing, and map creation. We started by selecting cereals as our focus trade product and downloading the Food and Agricultural Organization’s global cereal trade data for 2023. Next, we converted the data into a spatial format by adding start and end flow coordinates to the raw .csv file. We chose a web map as our final product, and created it using React, Typescript, and HTML and embedding a FlowMap City map frame to visualize our flows.
Challenges we ran into
Initially, we wanted to map the imports of multiple staple foods. However, we realized the size of all the data is too large for a clear and responsive map.
We also struggled to find the right tool to create the map we envisaged. Most tools tested had limited interactive functionality or design options.
What we're proud of
We found a flow map visualization that fit our data well. A user is able to search, sort, and select all flows on our dynamically scaled map. We have achieved a map that is user compatible.
What we learned
The big takeaways from this project are that it’s important to keep the goal in mind, be flexible and ready to compromise and, most importantly, that there is always a solution or an alternative, especially in coding!
What's next
Our project has two potential routes for its future: replicating our current flow map with any other trade data provided by the FAO and the creation of a more advanced food shock algorithm.
Sources
Acevedo, Maricelis & Zurn, Jason & Molero, Gemma & Kumar Singh, Pawan & He, Xinyao & Aoun, Meriem & Juliana, Philomin & Bockleman, Harold & Bonman, Mike & El-Sohl, Mahmoud & Amri, Ahmed & Coffman, Ronnie & McCandles, Linda. (2018). The role of wheat in global food security. Agricultural Development and Sustainable Intensification: Technology and Policy Challenges in the Face of Climate Change, 81-110. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203733301-4.
Chouchane, H., Krol, M., & Hoekstra, A. (2018). Expected increase in staple crop imports in water-scarce countries in 2050. Water Research X. 1 (2589-9147). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2018.09.001.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2022). FAOSTAT Database. United Nations. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/TCL.
Grassia, M., Mangioni, G., Schiavo, S., & Traverso, S. (2022). Insights into countries’ exposure and vulnerability to food trade shocks from network-based simulations. Nature: Scientific Reports. 12 (4644) 1-16. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08419-2.
Hasegawa, T., Sakurai, G., Fujimori, S., Takahashi, K., Hijoika, Y., & Masui, T. (2021). Extreme climate events increase risk of global food insecurity and adaptation needs. Nature: Food, (2) 587-595. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00335-4
Li, X., Wang, H., & Kharrazi, A. (2024). A network analysis of external shocks on the dynamics and resilience of the global staple food trade. Food Security. (16) 845–865. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-024-01462-z.
World Food Programme. (2023). A global food crisis. World Food Programme. https://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis
Zou, X., Zhang, J., Cheng, T., Guo, Y., Zhang, L., Han, X., Liu, C., Wan, Y., Ye, X., Cao, X., Song, C., Zhao, G., Xiang, D. (2023). New strategies to address world food security and elimination of malnutrition: future role of coarse cereals in human health. Front Plant Science. 14:1301445. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1301445.
Chouchane, H., Krol, M., & Hoekstra, A. (2018). Expected increase in staple crop imports in water-scarce countries in 2050. Water Research X. 1 (2589-9147). Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wroa.2018.09.001.
Food and Agriculture Organization. (2022). FAOSTAT Database. United Nations. https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#data/TCL.
Grassia, M., Mangioni, G., Schiavo, S., & Traverso, S. (2022). Insights into countries’ exposure and vulnerability to food trade shocks from network-based simulations. Nature: Scientific Reports. 12 (4644) 1-16. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-08419-2.
Hasegawa, T., Sakurai, G., Fujimori, S., Takahashi, K., Hijoika, Y., & Masui, T. (2021). Extreme climate events increase risk of global food insecurity and adaptation needs. Nature: Food, (2) 587-595. Retrieved from https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-021-00335-4
Li, X., Wang, H., & Kharrazi, A. (2024). A network analysis of external shocks on the dynamics and resilience of the global staple food trade. Food Security. (16) 845–865. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12571-024-01462-z.
World Food Programme. (2023). A global food crisis. World Food Programme. https://www.wfp.org/global-hunger-crisis
Zou, X., Zhang, J., Cheng, T., Guo, Y., Zhang, L., Han, X., Liu, C., Wan, Y., Ye, X., Cao, X., Song, C., Zhao, G., Xiang, D. (2023). New strategies to address world food security and elimination of malnutrition: future role of coarse cereals in human health. Front Plant Science. 14:1301445. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpls.2023.1301445.
Students
Madeleine Boyles and
Camille Rahier
14th intake
Supervisor
Juliane Cron, M.Sc.
Keywords
Foodtrade, Cereal, Foodshocks, Import, export, Flowmap, global