How Climate Change Affects Our Food

It’s established that climate change affects humans, but specifically, it affects food supply for humans. In the past couple centuries, there has been an increase in the production of food through the Industrial Revolution. From factories, to crops, to farming, there is no end to the ways that humans are able to obtain food. However, even as we have so many ways to feed ourselves, due to climate change, we are at risk of losing ways to sustainably feed our populations. 7.8 billion people–and this number doesn’t seem to look like it will decrease any time soon. Overall, climate change is affecting food production in various ways.

One of the first ways that climate change is affecting food production is by directly impacting agriculture. Agriculture, since it is grown outside on land, depends on climate. While some crops are able to flourish on increased temperature, there are many crops that are more vulnerable to climate change and will not be able to survive such changes. Climate change, and the carbon emissions that occur because of it, also affect soil moisture and acidity. It has also been shown that climate change has been causing more extreme weather events. Droughts in particular can have a dire effect on the agriculture industry. Because of all of these things, it is predicted that it will become more difficult for farmers to produce the crop yield that is needed, not only to sustain themselves financially, but also to sustain the rest of the human population. Reduction in crop yield means a variety of things. It means that prices will rise for products as shortages begin to occur. It also means that there will be more experimentation with GMOs to try and create a crop that is easier to yield, so more chemicals in our foods. It means that the few choices that we have right now may become even more limited.

Not only does climate change affect agriculture, it has also been shown to impact the livestock and meat industry. Over the past decades, there has become a prominence in the use of CAFOs: concentrated animal feeding operations. While these operations have led to a wider available access to meat for the general population, it has also led to an enormous increase in carbon emissions. The animals, particularly cows, release carbon gas from digestive issues that they have. These carbon emissions then contribute towards climate change, which in turn affects us. Climate change then affects the animals, whether by increased temperature or disease prevalence. It becomes a cycle that is inescapable. Heat stress can affect how vulnerable the animals are to disease and/or reduce their fertility. As the animals become more stressed and diseased, this also means that we begin to ingest meat that is unhealthy. Our food is no longer safe–or, it becomes more unhealthy than it already is.

The agriculture and meat industry being affected by climate change seems to be something considered common knowledge by many people, but climate change also affects the seafood industry. Fisheries provide an immense amount of food for people. There are already many anthropogenic issues that fishers face, such as overfishing and pollution, but climate change will only continue adding to their problems. As the overall global temperature has been increasing, the ocean temperature has also been increasing. The IUCN predicts that there has been a 0.13C temperature increase per decade for the last century. That means there has been about a 1.3C increase overall. This increase in the ocean temperature leads to the water having less oxygen and, instead, having more CO2. More carbon dioxide in the waters means that the water will be more acidic. Acidic waters have enormous effects on the underwater ecosystems. Coral reefs bleach, which mean that the marine life the reef supported all die or move away. As marine life populations in general decrease, the populations of seafood that we dine on also decrease, meaning less seafood.

As industries begin to become altered by climate change, this will also affect international relations. Many countries import and export food to and from one another. The U.S. alone supplies around 25% of all grains, 36 million metric tons of meat, and 5 million metric tons of seafood each year. There are also many third-world countries that already do not have access to the methods necessary to feed themselves. Climate change will only increase the troubles of these countries, especially since the first-world countries that try to help these countries are also slowly depleting their food supply. Extreme weather also makes it difficult for foods to be transported between countries. This will also have economic effects, as countries begin to lose out on their imports.

Works Cited:

Climate Impacts on Agriculture and Food Supply. Climate Impacts on Agriculture and Food Supply | Climate Change Impacts | US EPA. (n.d.). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://climatechange.chicago.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-agriculture-and-food-supply.

Driver, K. (2019, November 19). Food and climate change. Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.foodsystemprimer.org/food-production/food-and-climate-change/.

Ocean warming. IUCN. (2018, December 5). Retrieved November 15, 2021, from https://www.iucn.org/resources/issues-briefs/ocean-warming.