Jim Baird Profile picture
Nov 28, 2020 15 tweets 5 min read Read on X
I previously 👇 documented 20 mechanisms through which climate change is 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 disrupting food production.

Below I am adding to the list including several newly documented mechanisms. 

 *thread*
Several primary impacts relate to altered soil & plant chemistry & biology:

1. Disruption of the phosphorous cycle - the second most vital element for plants after nitrogen
eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2…
2. Decreased content of key nutrients in major crops 

sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/…
3. Reduced chill hours required for many plants to bloom normally in the spring

npr.org/sections/thesa…
Other additional primary impacts include:

4. Fossil fuel pollution impacts on crops - this is not a result of climate change per se, but is included since it is due to the same root cause (fossil fuel use):
5. Severe crop damage from wind storms - in this case, ~$7.5 Billion in damage from a single storm:

bit.ly/2V9Rbqz
6. Also wind (& heat) related - increasing prevalence of ‘furnace winds’. 

-these are as bad as they sound - they can damage crops in a few short hours:

bit.ly/33FCCzJ
7.  And another phenomenon that is an intensification of the existing- “flash droughts”

New secondary factors include:

1. Hoarding - even at the national/international scale - something we have disturbingly see with #COVIDー19.

Don't expect your neighbours and allies to come to the rescue:
bloomberg.com/news/articles/…
2. Farmer mental health taking a toll - in the U.S. (bit.ly/3fUDrtn) and internationally, in extreme cases leading to suicide (bit.ly/39uhXlw)
Most worryingly, we are now seeing a rapid increase in frequency of extreme weather, whereby farmers are being devastated by 2, 3 or sometimes more incidents in short succession. Recent examples:

a) South Korea hit by a succession of typhoons: bit.ly/33kW7Nt
b) In the US: flooding, drought and a derecho storm in Iowa

bit.ly/2V80pn0
c) in the UK - Farmers have experienced 'pretty much every weather extreme possible' over the past 12 months

bit.ly/2VdBEps
d) some Australian vineyards have faced "frost, flood, insect attack, bushfire & one of the worst droughts on record— all in the last 18 months"  

 ab.co/3mt5L8F Image
e) Central America hit by back-to-back hurricanes after being 'pounded by year-after-year of crop-destroying droughts' thoroughly devastating food-security. Throw COVID in, and:

“This is the worst year we have ever lived” 

ca.reuters.com/article/topNew…

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More from @JimBair62221006

Aug 11, 2023
With extreme weather raging, agricultural impacts continue to mount, threatening food security, inflation and produce shortages in many regions-

1/x - Fruit disappearing from Italian orchards due to extreme weather euronews.com/green/2023/08/…
2/x
Oregon cherry growers seek emergency aid after climate change ruined this year's harvest: 'It all fell apart'

“Never have I had a time where I had to walk away from so many cherries and it’s really just devastating”
kgw.com/article/life/f…
3/x

China 'lurching between stifling, unrelenting heat & heavy, monsoonal rainfall' () threatening national food security () & in the north, warnings of crop & animal diseases as floodwaters retreat nbcnews.com/news/world/chi…
asiatimes.com/2023/08/climat…
reuters.com/world/asia-pac…
Read 35 tweets
Jul 29, 2023
'Extreme weather is exacerbating farmer mental health crisis'

#farming #mentalhealth #food #health #ClimateBreakdown
https://t.co/WkBK3O1Lpgnhpr.org/nh-news/2023-0…
Image
Farmers in the Sundarbans written off as “hapless” future climate refugees-

“Climate change-induced cyclones, floods, salinity intrusion, land degradation & riverbank erosion along the coastal blocks of Sundarbans have affected people’s livelihood”
https://t.co/uVpUUGlVCFscmp.com/week-asia/econ…
Image
'Torrential rains swept across South Korea's farmlands in the central region last month, leaving more than 40 dead or missing, & large swaths of fields under water'

President warns 'extreme weather should be expected as the norm because of climate change'
zawya.com/en/world/china…
Read 5 tweets
Jul 18, 2023
Serbia 'has experienced "absolute extremes in terms of both drought and the amount of water that we've had"'

Farmers 'feeling the effects of climate change on this year's crops as extreme heat follows flooding'

"I'm absolutely starting to lose my will"
euronews.com/2023/07/17/cli…
'With extreme heat becoming a fixture of Europe's summers, the continent's food supply is becoming chronically hampered by the worsening drought. Food companies are left struggling in the face of shrinking crops and rising prices'

#CLIMATECRISIS #food
brusselstimes.com/598572/belgium…
'China’s grain output for the year is not looking good, as the summer yield is down & more extreme weather looms... already faced rarely seen bouts of bad weather this summer, & the subsequently higher risks including drought, flooding & less plant growth'
scmp.com/economy/china-…
Read 9 tweets
Jun 25, 2023
'the hot and dry weather that fuelled historic wildfires in Alberta has contributed to a scourge of grasshoppers now threatening to strip already stunted crops'

#ClimateChange #Alberta #food #cdnpoli #FoodSecurity #inflation
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
"The ground was literally moving with them. It was bare, you could see the soil. They just eat it to nothing."

"With the fire & the flood, we're talking about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, right?" 

#food #futures #future #now #ClimateChange #agri
cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
'China is currently grappling with a combination of floods and extreme heat, posing challenges to its agricultural sector... unforeseen weather events have disrupted wheat harvests and threatened pig and fish farming.'

#food #China #farming #agri
livemint.com/news/china-bat…
Read 10 tweets
May 17, 2023
How do you think this will this end?

⚠️Climate-driven food shocks happening around the world, *now*

⚠️Impacts are piling up much earlier then expected

⚠️ We're discovering new, worrying feedbacks & treading closer to several tipping points 

A thread👇

#ActNow #ClimateCrisis Image
'water levels in the Ogallala Aquifer — one of the world’s largest fresh groundwater sources — are already plummeting'

"Water in the Ogallala Aquifer has been severely depleted, particularly in the southern end of the aquifer"
#ClimateChange #foodsecurity
axios.com/2023/05/17/fut…
'Meanwhile: Wildfires and shifting climate patterns imperil water sources on forested lands, as reservoirs "face dwindling inflows and are filling with sediment, increasing flood risk and reducing their capacity to respond to drought"'

#food #water
axios.com/2023/05/17/fut…
Read 4 tweets
May 13, 2023
🔥USA-

'America’s wheat fields have become so plagued by drought that farmers are now poised to abandon crops at the highest rate in more than a century.'

'Years of dry conditions on the US Plains have taken their toll'

1/x #ClimateCrisis #food #USA
finance.yahoo.com/news/farmers-s…
🔥Europe-

'Europe’s Drought-Riven Future Is Here, Decades Earlier Than Expected'

2/x #ClimateCrisis #Europe #food
bloomberg.com/news/features/…
🔥USA-

California: 'Our crops are getting decimated. There's been at least 12 atmospheric rivers'

The state is the leading provider in the US for fruits & vegetables & 'These weather conditions are wreaking havoc for farmers'

3/x #ClimateCrisis #food
forbes.com/sites/phillemp…
Read 7 tweets

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