Climate Change Is Hurting Food Chains

Climate change is deeply impacting the food chain, from agricultural production to land urbanization to food shortage. The effects go much deeper than the impact of unusual weather that we are experiencing.

Agricultural Infertility Caused By Climate Change

The drastic weather change at many places not only causes floods and droughts that affect the farming cycle, it is also highly unpredictable, sometimes going over an entire year of corps production. In some areas, unseasonable rains in the vegetable growing areas are causing massive outbreaks of fungus problems. In other areas, unusually warm winters can cause rodent populations to spike out of control.

A warmer climate also means that pathogens that have been more easily controlled in the past is becoming far more problematic. Some farmers are already abandoning their trade and their land as the weather is no longer suitable for farming. Late freezes are wiping out entire fruit crops and stress trees for years to come while other in other places, weather has become dryer and hotter.

Lesser Productive Lands

At the same time, the pressure to produce more on less land will become intense as land is taken out of cultivation to support cities and ecological migrants from coastal areas.

The bulk of the pressure on land around the globe, from precious wetlands to rainforests, comes from the agricultural sector. Deforestation for food production is generating even more greenhouse gas, affecting the food system. It is estimated that the destruction of wetlands and rainforests contributes to nearly 18 percent of the total global warming effect. The erosion and deterioration of soils on industrial farms also releases greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. By destroying the natural soil fertility, and disturbing the soil through tillage, industrial farming also adds to the deterioration of soil and its carbon emissions.

Panic Over Food Shortage

In a world of increasing affluence, the hoarding of rice and wheat has begun. Food shortages is taking place worldwide, the likes of which haven’t been seen for over a century in the most developed nations. Food shortages is casting a shadow across the globe, causing riots in Africa, consumer protests in Europe and panic in food-importing countries.