A secret weapon in agriculture’s climate fight: #Ants
"Though most people view the small insects as little more than a nuisance, colonies of them are being deployed in orchards across a handful of countries to stave off the spread of crippling infestation and disease.
Past studies have found that for crops from cocoa to citrus, ants could replace #insecticides in a multitude of climates and locations."
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/a-secret-weapon-in-agricultures-climate-fight-ants/
It will be interesting to see how this will fare, together with permaculture, biodynamic farming, etc. All of these work-with-nature approaches are a threat to the business model of the fertiliser and pesticides industry (which is at bottom the fossil fuel industry).
https://grist.org/food-and-agriculture/a-secret-weapon-in-agricultures-climate-fight-ants/
#ClimateChange is turning Valentine's Day bitter for #chocolate lovers
"Disruptive weather patterns fueled by climate change have hammered West Africa, where most of the world’s cacao, the raw form of the bean that gets processed into cocoa, is grown. Similar challenges have been mounting for coffee farmers, too, fueling a sharp price spike on global markets that consumers are increasingly expected to feel this year."
https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/chocolate-prices-valentines-day-candy-climate-change-rcna190866
#ClimateInflation
"A new report has found direct connections between the climate crisis and rising cost-of-living pressures. Failure to lower emissions now will only aggravate the crisis, with each moment of inaction compounding the pressure on households.
The report identifies three key areas where the climate crisis is directly driving up costs for Australians: insurance, food, and energy."
https://australiainstitute.org.au/post/climate-crisis-escalates-cost-of-living-pressures/
#ClimateInflation
A new report has found direct connections between the climate crisis and rising cost-of-living pressures. Failure to lower emissions now will only aggravate the crisis, with each moment of inaction compounding the pressure on households.
"In #SouthSudan's Eastern Equatoria state, the worsening #climate crisis has brought erratic rainfall, extended droughts, and #ExtremeEeather events, significantly affecting food security across the region.
These shocks, along with an invasion of birds, have disrupted agricultural activities, reduced crop yields, and intensified food shortages, leaving communities vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition."
"In the northernmost prefecture of #Hokkaido, poor fishing conditions triggered by global warming are endangering #Japan's prized salmon -- widely considered one of the country's favorite seafood.
A researcher has warned that climate change is forcing Hokkaido's chum salmon, which make up the bulk of Japan's #salmon catch, into a losing battle with a relative for food, hindering their return in large numbers to spawn in the rivers where they were released."
There is trouble on the horizon in the northernmost prefecture of Hokkaido, where poor fishing conditions triggered by global warming are endangering Japan's prized salmon -- widely considered one of the country's favorite seafood.
"#Pakistan’s bees once produced 22 varieties of honey, but that has plummeted to 11 as flowering seasons shorten. Three of the country’s four honeybee species are endangered.
#Bees are threatened globally by changing weather patterns, intensive farming practices, land-use change, and pesticides."
https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2025/3/4/photos-climate-crisis-threatens-pakistans-bees-and-honey-trade
#ClimateInflation
"The study ... finds that under just 1.5°C of warming, more than half of the studied crops would suffer from an overall loss of potential suitable cropland, compared to the current climate.
The most affected crops are wheat, barley, soya beans, lentils and potatoes.
Beyond 2°C warming, the declines in suitable areas for the 30 crops become more pronounced – in some cases approaching and passing 50 per cent, the study notes."
Climate change threatens Latin American banana exports
"A study published in Nature Food has found that by 2080, rising temperatures will lead to a 60 per cent reduction in suitable areas for export #banana production in #LatinAmerica and the #Caribbean without urgent interventions to tackle #ClimateChange.
Yield declines are expected in most of the region’s current banana-growing areas."
https://www.scidev.net/global/news/climate-change-threatens-latin-american-banana-exports/
Less coffee, more chocolate (both more expensive)
"This changing #climate has made mid-altitude lands, once dominated by #coffee, ideal for cacao. But economics also plays a role in this switch, say researchers. #Cacao prices have increased in the last year and some farmers find it too hard to manage the costs of controlling more pests on their coffee crops as temperatures get warmer."
RISARALDA, Colombia — “Before, anyone who wanted to grow cacao at 1,200 or 1,500 meters [3,900 to 4,900 feet] altitude was considered crazy,” says Orlando Quintero Gonzales, an agronomist in Colombia’s Eje Cafetero, or the Coffee Axis. “Today, with climate change reshaping agricultural landscapes, these altitudes could become optimal for this crop.” As small-scale farmers […]
"Global yields of wheat are around 10% lower now than they would have been without the influence of climate change, according to a new study.
The study also assesses the impacts that warming and vapour pressure deficit – a key driver of plant water stress – have on crop yields.
The models show that these effects may be the main driver of losses in grain yield, with heat having a more “indirect effect”, as higher temperatures drive water stress. "
https://www.carbonbrief.org/global-wheat-yields-would-be-10-higher-without-climate-change/
#ClimateInflation
Climate change threatens banana exports, key to the Latin American economy
A study indicates that rising temperatures threaten 60% of the area suitable for growing the tropical fruit
https://english.elpais.com/climate/2025-06-07/climate-change-threatens-banana-exports-key-to-the-latin-american-economy.html
#ClimateInflation
Rapidly Increasing Soil Salinity Threatens Global Food Supply: UN Report
"The report, Global Status of Salt-Affected Soils, found that roughly 3.41 billion acres — 10.7 percent of land worldwide — is impacted by salinity, with another 2.47 billion acres classified as “at risk,” reported The Guardian."
https://www.ecowatch.com/soil-salinity-increase-food-supply-impacts.html
[Reminder that nearly half the US corn crop is grown for corn ethanol additives to gasoline.
Maybe grow less food for cars, more for people.]
"Rising global temperatures are set to devastate food crops across the world.
One of the striking findings of the study is that some of the wealthiest countries are likely to be hardest hit.
The only staple crop that might be able to avoid substantial losses is rice, which can benefit from warmer nighttime temperatures."
Rising global temperatures are set to devastate food crops across the world, with particularly alarming impacts projected for the United States, where production of key crops could plummet 50% by the end of the century, according to a sweeping new analysis.
"While producers struggle to harvest the same amounts of food in the face of droughts, heat waves, and hurricanes, shoppers are more likely to face climbing food prices.
[A study of ] caloric output of agricultural production found that for every additional degree Celsius of warming, the global food system will produce roughly 120 fewer calories per person per day.
[At 3C warming], that’s the equivalent of everyone on the planet missing out on breakfast."
"Drought is pushing tens of millions of people to the edge of starvation around the world, in a foretaste of a global crisis that is rapidly deepening with climate breakdown.
More than 90 million people in eastern and southern Africa are facing extreme hunger after record-breaking drought across many areas, ensuing widespread crop failures and the death of livestock. In Somalia, a quarter of the population is now edging towards starvation."
"By early 2024, Morocco had experienced six consecutive years of drought, leading to a 57% water deficit. In Spain, a 50% fall in olive production, driven by a lack of rainfall, has caused olive oil prices to double, while in Turkey land degradation has left 88% of the country at risk of desertification, and demands from agriculture have emptied aquifers. Dangerous sinkholes have opened up as a result of overextraction."
"Statistics Korea cited climate as a factor in last month's rise in consumer prices. Radish prices jumped 54 percent year-on-year, and shredded squid rose 39.9 percent, with surging prices in seafood and livestock products contributing significantly to inflation.
“Radish and napa cabbage shipments declined due to frequent heavy rains and abnormal temperatures, causing prices to spike. Seafood catches have fallen due to rising sea temperatures.”"
https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2025-07-04/business/economy/Grocery-prices-overheat-as-climate-change-hurts-yields-with-no-relief-in-sight/2345789
#ClimateInflation
As Korea braces for record-breaking heat and a so-called dry monsoon this summer, climate change is driving up food prices around the world, with years of accumulated climate impacts reducing the yields of crops and seafood, pushing prices higher.
"A [new] study directly links dozens of climate extremes to sharp food price spikes, highlighting the increasing vulnerability of food systems to environmental shocks.
Previous studies have examined how high temperatures, which cause waning yields and supply shortages, drive general food price inflation over the long term. However, the new research shows that specific food items also experience much steeper short-term price spikes which feed into inflation."
https://www.ft.com/content/66b06e7d-7fa5-4b53-a4c2-55477af59649
"The cost of a wide range of goods – from vegetables in California to coffee in Brazil – saw dramatic spikes in recent years due to weather conditions that were “so extreme they exceeded all historical precedent prior to 2020,” according to [a new] study.
By driving up food prices extreme weather conditions can also worsen overall inflation, which can lead to political unrest and social upheaval, the researchers noted."
https://www.cnn.com/2025/07/21/business/food-prices-climate-change-intl
#ClimateInflation
"Soaring food prices have been a major concern for consumers around the world since around 2021, with prices rising due to extreme weather fuelled by climate change, higher production costs and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – among other factors. "
https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-16-times-extreme-weather-drove-higher-food-prices-since-2022/
#ClimateInflation
"Both extreme weather and food costs have been on the rise in recent years.
Research suggests it’s more than just coincidence that the price increases and weather extremes are coming together. A report published Monday in the journal Environmental Research Letters shows how extreme weather events is correlated to specific food price spikes in the immediate aftermath."
https://time.com/7304646/climate-change-food-prices-extreme-weather/
"A warming planet with intensifying extreme weather is also affecting the price of your steak and hamburgers.
After years of drought, pastures haven’t been producing enough grass to feed cattle. So ranchers have been sending their animals to the slaughterhouse earlier, cutting back herds even as Americans eat more beef. This is sending prices to record highs."
(Soon: add in the effects of tariffs, nothing to do with climate change).
"U.S. imports of Brazilian beef have plummeted 80% in just three months, as President Donald Trump’s tariff crackdown begins to bite. Shipments tumbled from 47,800 tons in April — when a 10% tariff took effect — to just 9,700 tons so far in July. The looming 50% surcharge, scheduled for Aug. 1, is already reshaping trade flows and forcing exporters to reroute containers to beat the deadline."
We can eat differently, and better:
"This is a story of exploration, adaptation and improved health, not one of abstinence.
By transforming how we grow food and what we eat – rather than letting climate change dictate the pace of change – we have so much to gain. If you are a proponent for less but better meat, for increased crop diversity or organic food, then the answer is more plants in our diets."
"Climate change is contributing to a global shortage of the world’s most consumed fruit.
Bananas are the fourth most important food crop globally, with more than 400 million people relying on the fruit for 15% to 27% of their daily calories, and they’re not the only crop at risk.
Climate models show that mitigation efforts are the best ways we can reduce climate impacts on our food supply."
https://time.com/7310462/banana-supply-climate-change/
#ClimateInflation
"The struggles [of farmers in the south of Europe] mean the price of wine, olives, citrus fruits and vegetables are expected to continue to rise, as droughts, flash floods and high temperatures affect traditional crops in the Mediterranean.
However, the more the climate crisis progresses the harder it becomes to adapt and the more costly it becomes."
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/aug/25/we-cannot-do-it-the-way-our-fathers-did-farmers-across-europe-struggle-to-adapt-to-the-climate-crisis
#ClimateInflation
"For every degree of warming, the study estimates year-to-year variability in crop yields will increase by 7% for corn (maize), 19% for soybeans and 10% for sorghum.
They identified “increased covariance of temperature and water stresses as a substantial and previously unquantified driver of future increases in yield variance.”"
https://cosmosmagazine.com/earth/climate/crop-failures-climate-change/
"These mounting [climate] risks are leading farmers to bet on regenerative agriculture. Together with climate advocates and scientists, they increasingly see these practices as key to withstanding changing climatic conditions — and to helping farmers stay in business. And Europe is showing how it can be done, they say."
#ClimateInflation
Tariff inflation
Deportations inflation
"Grocery prices last month rose at their fastest pace in three years, stoked by Trump’s tariffs, a crackdown on immigration, and extreme weather hurting food production. Prices jumped 0.6% in August from the month prior, according to the latest reading from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and they are up 2.7% from a year ago."
https://www.cnn.com/2025/09/20/business/grocery-store-prices-kroger-coupons
"Mr Rinaudo's work as an agronomist — a soil and plant scientist — in the West African nation during the 1980s resulted in the development of farmer-managed natural regeneration (FMNR), a technique that resulted in trees springing up from lifeless soil.
His work has given the tool of knowledge to others around him, while feeding millions of people in the process."
""Nobody has tried this before, but with climate change, we have crops that, 10 years ago, we wouldn't have thought would be viable. In 10 years time, rice could be a completely perfect crop for us," Nadine says.
This is the very edge of where rice can grow at the moment.
It will still be some time before we can test taste a UK rice crop - but it's a very real possibility that in the next decade, UK-grown rice could be coming to our dinner plates."
"Beyond potatoes, Maine's other top crops are suffering. Blueberry growers are warning of reduced harvests this year, and Canada's industry — which supplies much of the U.S. — could see losses of up to one-third. Meanwhile, vegetable gardeners across the region are reporting wilting plants and dry soil.
For consumers, this means higher prices at the grocery store. "
https://www.thecooldown.com/sustainable-food/maine-drought-potato-farmers-climate-change-2/
"Serbia has suffered from extreme drought in addition to frost in 2025, compounding the detrimental effects on crops.
The lack of rain has devastated corn crops, and the frost destroyed much of the fruit and vegetable yield, leading to extremely high grocery prices."
https://www.thecooldown.com/sustainable-food/serbia-drought-agriculture-farming/
"One year’s worth of bread has been lost in the UK since 2020 due to extreme weather destroying harvests, a report has found.
Droughts and floods, which have been exacerbated by climate breakdown, have created a deficit in wheat production of over 7m tonnes. Experts at the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit (ECIU) calculated this is enough wheat to bake more than 4bn loaves of bread – a year’s supply."
Climate Change Linked To 40% Of UK Food Price Hikes
Staples like butter, beef, milk, coffee and chocolate account for nearly 40% of all food price inflation, despite comprising only 11% of an average shopping basket, according to the study.
This trend challenges arguments that minimum-wage hikes or other domestic factors are the main cause of inflation.
Climate impacts added an estimated £360 (€414) to the average UK household food bill in 2022-23."
https://www.esmmagazine.com/supply-chain/climate-change-linked-to-40-of-uk-food-price-hikes-study-finds-298316
#ClimateInflation
"This week, prices spiked again in the futures market as stocks of Brazilian beans in the US dwindled to their lowest level since 2020 and Donald Trump threatened tariffs on Colombia, another big exporter.
But the president's trade war obscures another major factor driving up coffee prices: climate change."
FAO report:
"Disasters – from droughts and floods to pests and marine heatwaves – have inflicted an estimated $3.26 trillion in agricultural losses worldwide over the past 33 years – an average of $99 billion annually, roughly 4 percent of global agricultural GDP.
These losses translate to a daily per capita reduction of 320 kilocalories – 13–16 percent of average energy needs."
Africa has lost $ 611 billion from 1991 - 2023 to "natural" disasters and climate change.
With great impact on the continent's food security.
h/t @Snoro
#ClimateInflation in the price of food in North America:
"Projected warming by 2035 would drive food inflation up by 1.4 to 1.8 percentage-points per-year on average across North America (for low-end (SSP1-2.6) and high-end (SSP5-8.5) warming scenarios, respectively). By 2060, warming-driven food inflation across North America would reach 1.9 to 3.9 percentage-points per-year, respectively."
https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/climate-change-and-food-prices
" When enough early adopters begin experimenting with regenerative techniques, others can take notice. Perceptions shift. A new normal becomes possible.
Yet these pro-change norms are rarely included in global models. This limits our ability to understand where transformation might take off, or how policy and community support could accelerate it. "
https://earth4all.life/views/why-regenerative-farming-needs-social-change/
"As carbon dioxide increases, so does carbon uptake, and more carbon means more carbohydrates, like sugars and starch. However, critical nutrients such as iron, zinc, and protein all decreased. Our food might have more carbs but fewer essential nutrients."
https://theconversation.com/climate-change-is-affecting-your-food-and-not-in-your-favour-270323
“Climate change and weather extremes will drive down global caloric yields by about 24% under high future emissions.
“This would result in higher food prices, which in rich countries would feel like inflation. In poor countries, this would exacerbate food security problems and could negatively affect political stability.”
For food security, one must look beyond the staples, and consider regional variability.
"Overall, India is producing record levels of paddy and wheat, but marginal production of other crops affects nutrient intake.
Agricultural districts most vulnerable to climate change are often in arid or semi-arid regions, coastal zones and rainfed areas. Protecting these from crop losses would not only secure food supply and livelihoods but also ensure better health."
CO2 "plant food"? -- Not so fast.
"The results, she said, were a shock: although crop yields increase, they become less nutrient-dense. While zinc levels in particular drop, lead levels increase."
“We aren’t seeing a simple dilution effect but rather a complete shift in the composition of our foods … This also raises the question of whether we should adjust our diets in some way, or how we grow or produce our food.”
‘Borrowed time’: crop pests and food losses supercharged by climate crisis
"Researchers said the world was lucky to have so far avoided a major shock and was living on borrowed time, with action needed to diversify crops and boost natural predators of pests.
The key global crops, wheat, rice and maize, are expected to see the losses to pests increase by about 46%, 19% and 31% respectively when global heating reaches 2C, the scientists said."
https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/dec/20/crop-pests-food-losses-climate-crisis
"Unless urgent action is taken, the number of Somalis in need of humanitarian aid could reach 7.1 million by April this year.
This because the situation is expected to worsen during the peak of the dry season, from mid-December to March. Drought conditions worsened this year after failed rains in Somali regions, with some areas along rivers reporting a reduction in river flow, which has further impacted crop production reliant on rainfall and river water."
https://www.dawan.africa/news/drought-crisis-71-million-somalis-face-dire-need-by-april-sodma-warns
"Climate change is taking a toll on Karnataka's agriculture sector, with localised floods and droughts causing significant crop losses. Over the past five years, farmers have received Rs 7,079 crore (USD 772 million) in compensation for these losses.
Agriculture Department data shows that the number of farmers availing crop insurance has doubled over this period, while compensation payouts have tripled, highlighting the increasing vulnerability of farming."
"Extreme weather in the global coffee-growing regions (“the bean belt”) is at least partly to blame for recent coffee price surges.
Coffee plants thrive under specific temperature and rainfall ranges. Suboptimal conditions can harm the quality and quantity of bean harvests.
Climate change is bringing more excessive heat to major coffee-growing regions, according to a new analysis using Climate Central’s Climate Shift Index."
https://www.climatecentral.org/climate-matters/more-coffee-harming-heat-due-to-carbon-pollution-2026
"The model found that, if the world continues to emit a high level of greenhouse gas emissions, over 1.1 billion people globally, including more than 600 million children, will have been exposed to at least one severe food crisis by 2100.
[In] Africa with more than 170 million people [are] predicted to be exposed to food crises - the worst of which would be starvation - in 2099 alone – a number equivalent to the current combined population of Italy, France, and Spain."
Pakistan: Harvest of pulses significantly decreased due to low returns, export restrictions -- and climate change
https://mastodon.social/@Snoro/116116699598224092
#ClimateInflation
Food insecurity
"One shock could spark social unrest and even food riots in the UK, according to dozens of the country’s top food experts, because chronic issues have left the food system a “tinderbox”.
The group first identified a series of issues that are making access to food vulnerable in the UK, including the climate crisis, low incomes, poor farming policy and fragile just-in-time supply chains. These have left the UK dangerously exposed, the researchers said."
https://www.theguardian.com/food/2026/feb/23/uk-food-security-cyber-attack-riots-tinderbox-analysis
Persistent rains devastate crops in Spain, Portugal, France, and Morocco.
This will have implications for food supply in the UK and in northern Europe.
https://www.ft.com/content/8504b1a8-dcf6-43b7-8816-fdaac8b30f12
"India recorded about 118 days per year (between 2021 and 2025) above 30 degrees celsius, the temperature threshold beyond which the heat harms the coffee plants. Roughly 30 of those days were driven by climate change, the analysis shows."
"Livestock farmers and other stakeholders have called on the federal government to urgently address the growing impact of climate change on Nigeria’s livestock sector, warning that extreme weather conditions, drought and rising feed costs are worsening productivity and threatening national meat supply."
"Flooding is the most frequent, most lethal, and most economically destructive natural hazard in Nigeria, its frequency and severity are increasing measurably under anthropogenic climate change.
The stakes of inadequate flood management are extraordinary: floods destroy livelihoods, contaminate water supplies, trigger disease outbreaks, devastate agricultural output that accounts for over 31% of GDP, and deepen the poverty of communities already living on the margins."
https://www.environewsnigeria.com/extreme-flooding-and-intensifying-rainfall-variability-in-nigeria/
Synopsis Climate change and natural climate variability are the major causes of weather extremes such as heavy rainfall. There have been reports from multiple ecological zones in Nigeria, indicating rainfall events in December 2025 through February 2026. These situations hint at an increasing crisis of rainfall variability that is imposing an increasingly severe humanitarian, economic, […]
This is not a consequence of climate change, but synthetic fertilisers are a fossil fuel product.
"Oil powers cars. Nitrogen powers crops. If the strait of Hormuz closes, the most consequential price may not be Brent crude but the cost of feeding the world.
A sustained disruption of traffic through Hormuz ... would also represent a fertiliser shock (where prices go up dramatically and supply goes down) – and, by extension, a direct risk to global food security."
"The haul of lobsters, Maine’s best known export and a key piece of the state’s identity and culture, has declined every year since 2021, and some scientists have cited as a reason warming oceans that spur migration to Canadian waters."
https://www.canoncitydailyrecord.com/2026/03/06/maine-lobster-catch/
#ClimateInflation
Far more countries face critical food insecurity if world heats up by 2C, analysis shows
"Food systems of low-income nations projected to deteriorate seven times as fast as those of wealthy ones.
“High-income countries will experience massive agricultural shocks, but they have the wealth to buy their way out of a domestic crop failure on the global market,” Bharadwaj said."
"South Punjab’s world-famous mango industry is facing a serious setback this season, as climate change has impacted the production of Summer Bahisht Chaunsa, one of the most prized mango varieties in Pakistan.
According to local growers, the first week of March brought an unexpected rise in temperature, which disrupted the natural flowering and fruit-setting process."
https://borneobulletin.com.bn/climate-change-hits-pakistans-world-famous-mango-produce/
#ClimateInflation
Rabobank report:
"The analysis says that 8% of current arabica growing areas globally are already classified as climatically unsuitable, while that figure could rise to about 20% over the next 25 years under the report’s warming scenario.
An [earlier] analysis from Climate Central found that coffee-growing regions in major producing countries have been exposed to significantly more coffee-harming heat in recent years because of climate change."
CelloMom On Cars
