How climate change is affecting food production

Climate change has had some dire consequences on the environment. Melting ice caps, rise in sea levels, erratic weather, and warmer oceans are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to ill effects of climate change. Another pressing yet less discussed concern that arises as a result of this change is a threat to global food production, including a much greater risk to crops and vulnerability of livestock. Today, we will take a look at how adverse the effects of climate change are on food production.

Thanks to climate change, rainfall has become sparse, and in a lot of regions where farmers depend on rainwater for agricultural purposes, a switch to water has to be made. Rain-fed irrigation has to now be replaced with traditional irrigation that demands the supply of a lot of water, increasing costs and conflict over access to water.

A time when there will be a global shortage of food is not too far. Long periods of high temperature that cause drought related stress decreases the productivity of crops and livestock, including fruit crops and milk yields. This will build up into a gradual shortage of supplies, leading to mass food shortage.

With longer periods of hot weather, the duration of winter is decreasing. High temperature and humidity are the perfect conditions for plant based pests to survive and even reproduce more rapidly, which leads to greater damage of crops, reducing the overall yield.

Shifting rainfall patterns, longer summers, droughts, and more severe precipitation events all lead to a change in planting and harvesting. The planting of crops that are usually harvested in winter has to be delayed because of delayed winter, marking a drastic shift in the availability of food.

Climate is a major factor in the formation of soil, and with the climate changing so rampantly, the soil profile in many arable areas is changing. Soil is becoming less arable as it loses nutrition and does not form well enough to be suitable for producing crops. As a result, farmers have started growing crops in higher latitudes, where land is more arable, leaving low latitude areas less productive.

Rising sea water and warmer and more polluted seawater is not just a threat to fish, but also to us humans. Warmer water is making fish migrate to colder conditions, while pollutants such as increased carbon dioxide emissions and acidifications are impacting the ecosystem of sea animals. Consuming seafood produced under these conditions are a threat to humans as they increase the risk of catching infectious diseases.