  Analyzing available FAO data from 176 countries over 21 years, we observe an
increase of complexity in the international trade of maize, rice, soy, and
wheat. A larger number of countries play a role as producers or intermediaries,
either for trade or food processing. In consequence, we find that the trade
networks become more prone to failure cascades caused by exogenous shocks. In
our model, countries compensate for demand deficits by imposing export
restrictions. To capture these, we construct higher-order trade dependency
networks for the different crops and years. These networks reveal hidden
dependencies between countries and allow to discuss policy implications.
