Meet the Expert with David Ortega

Description

Food prices have been shaped by an unusual convergence of pressures — the Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz disruption, tariffs, drought across major growing regions, diesel at record highs, and persistent post-pandemic inflation. 

Each shock moves through the food system differently, and explaining the cumulative effect to a general audience without losing nuance is one of the defining communication challenges in agricultural economics right now. 

In this Meet the Expert session, Dr. David Ortega — the 2025 Borlaug CAST Communication Award recipient — will walk through the forces reshaping the food system and discuss how he thinks about translating that complexity for public audiences: what to say, what to leave out, and how to keep it accurate without losing people. 

Key topics:

• The current food price moment: tariffs, energy, drought, and supply chain dynamics
• How economic shocks move through the food supply chain — and the lag before consumers feel them
• Communicating complexity to non-specialist audiences: lessons from 400+ media appearances
• What the data says about where food prices are headed in the second half of 2026

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