Agriculture as the new oil for ISIS

Eckart Woertz, research fellow at CIDOB, estimates that “in 2015 ISIS might have generated $56 million from wheat and barley taxation alone. Moreover, the total value of estimated 2.45 million tons of wheat in 2015 roughly equaled that of ISIS oil production during its peak in late 2014 and early 2015. Thankfully, this situation is not likely to continue for too long as supply chains have been disrupted and quality seeds and other agricultural input aren’t getting any better”.