Trade policy adding further complexity

According to Yale's Budget Lab, the U.S. effective tariff rate reached 10.6 percent in January 2026 — the highest since 1946. While certain tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court in February, the remaining duties continue to affect raw ingredients, packaging materials and supply chain costs across the food industry.

A second energy shock in Europe

RaboResearch reported in June 2026 that Brent crude prices have risen 61 percent and European TTF gas prices 68 percent compared to pre-conflict levels, following the Strait of Hormuz disruption. Food price inflation across Europe is expected to build through 2026 and intensify in 2027, as energy costs cascade through cooling, heating, packaging and logistics.

The Kiel Institute for the World Economy described the Hormuz closure as a multi-layered shock: energy disruptions cascade through chemicals and fertiliser production into food prices. Between 25 and 30 percent of global nitrogen fertiliser exports pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Labour: a geography problem, not just a numbers problem

A January 2026 Forbes report noted that the food manufacturing labour shortage is increasingly geographic — workers exist, but not where the plants are.

MIE Solutions reported that 26 percent of the U.S. manufacturing workforce is expected to retire by 2030, with demand concentrated in skills-intensive roles.

The global food robotics market was valued at $3.1 billion in 2025 and is expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 15 percent through 2035.

Where robotics fits

For processors, these pressures reinforce a common need: the ability to maintain consistent, high-quality output regardless of external conditions. Frontmatec's AIRA robotic systems — including dressing, splitting and cutting solutions — deliver repeatable, high-precision performance with integrated 3D vision and AI, helping plants maintain yield and quality consistency even when throughput, staffing or product mix changes.

For processors, the starting point is usually practical: identify where the biggest sources of variation are — yield, safety, throughput stability or shift-to-shift inconsistency — and evaluate where automation can provide the consistency that current conditions demand.

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