Thread by @JimBair62221006

Last year, I summarized how climate change related extreme weather impacted agriculture & food production:

https://twitter.com/JimBair62221006/status/1216112893906735104

What follows is an update for 2020.

#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture

This is How Climate Change Impacted Food Security Around the Globe in 2020

*thread*

#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food

In sum:

2020 was the year of drought.

And flooding.

And cyclones.

And locusts.

#ClimateChange #foodsecurity #agriculture #food

We begin in Africa

Where flooding devastated millions, destroying crops & fields.

“Floods washed away at least 2 million tons of rice in Nigeria, the second-largest importer of the grain. That is more than 25% of the previously projected national output”
bnnbloomberg.ca/floods-washed-…

Flooding has also destroyed crops in South Sudan, and is raising the specter of famine.

theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…

To the east, Cyclone Gati- the strongest storm on record to hit Somalia- recently ravaged traders & herders

agriculture.com/markets/newswi…

Farmers also suffered from whiplash between extremes, as in Nigeria, where ‘Flooded farms and scorched crops are realities of farmers’ in Lagos State

salaamgateway.com/story/nigeria-…

Nigeria serves as a further example of how climate change acts as a threat multiplier – its impacts have exacerbated those of COVID and conflict, putting 300,000 children at imminent risk of death due to severe malnutrition.

punchng.com/300000-north-e…

In Eastern Africa: “weather patterns exacerbated by climate change have created ideal conditions for insect numbers to surge... Warmer seas are creating more rain, wakening dormant eggs, & cyclones that disperse the swarms are getting stronger”

theglobeandmail.com/world/article-…

And by year’s end:

'A new generation of locust swarms is threatening to wipe out the livelihoods of farmers and herders across eastern Africa - deepening a food crisis in a region where 35 million people are already hungry'

reuters.com/article/africa…

That's not all-

Rising temperatures drove a massive increase in fruit fly populations in Kenya & "Farmers in fruit fly-infested areas are losing on average up to half their crops each year to the tiny pests"

reuters.com/article/us-cli…

Next up, Europe:

Starting in the UK, where farmers 'experienced 'pretty much every weather extreme possible' over 12 months, and:

-wheat & winter barley yields were down 18% from 2019 -spring barley yields were down 6%
-oilseed rape yields were down 15%
farminguk.com/news/uk-sees-s…

Across the channel, drought has been the major challenge,

So much so that climate change is increasing the risk of crop fires, even in areas where wildfire had not previously been a concern

mobile-reuters-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/mobile.reu…

In the Czech republic, the drought was the worst in 500 years and early on threatened “to seriously damage harvest and limit the availability of drinking water"

bloombergquint.com/business/czech…
scitechdaily.com/severe-drought…

In Romania, by the spring, "The prolonged & acute drought” had “compromised about half of Romania's grain crops"

romania-insider.com/romania-crops-…

And Germany saw a very dry spring and record hottest year that led to:

Grain harvests ‘about 5% below average, with declines of 19% for asparagus, 13% for strawberries, and 11% for cherries’

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

By late April, Italy had “seen just over half its usual rainfall since the beginning of the year, creating a water shortage the size of Lake Como-- the third largest lake in Italy"

rfi.fr/en/wires/20200…

After which “Much of the country seesawed from parched during the summer to drenched...& then there are the windstorms', all impacting key crops -’Italian farm group Coldiretti forecast that the olive oil harvest will decline by 22% this year’
modernfarmer.com/2020/12/italia…

Elsewhere:

In Poland 2 years of drought ‘cut crop yields and even left some towns out of water’;

‘Other European countries also fared badly this summer, with farming hit in France, Belgium and Lithuania, according to the European Drought Observatory’

independent.ie/business/farmi…

Drought also extended to the Middle East

-in Syria, farmers were 'in shock over the losses they have endured over the past couple of days as the fire devoured their crops & harvests & reached their homes... The worst-hit of all was the olive crops'

xinhuanet.com/english/2020-1…

And in Turkey,

'the climate has dramatically changed in the past & temperature changes will worsen in the future' with 'dry weather playing a role' in driving food prices up >20%

bit.ly/2JSH4V2

At year's end,
'Lack of life-saving rainfall in the past 6 months triggers drought alert ...at the heart of country’s agriculture capital, raising concerns over future crops ...Turkey's other regions are also battling drought stemming from climate change'
dailysabah.com/turkey/drought…

Swinging back to the opposite weather extreme, much of South Asia saw extensive flooding:

In Pakistan, "A heavy monsoon season… caused fatal flooding across Pakistan in 2020. ...nearly one million acres of crops have also been destroyed by the flooding"
earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147330/…

Other critical crops were also hit hard- 'in recent years, extreme heat and flooding have destroyed much of farmers' harvests, impacting the livelihoods "of about 30,000 people"...Farmers expect to save just 30% of their chili crops this year'

businessinsider.com/chili-pepper-m…

All of which meant "Food inflation surged almost 13% in August as crops in several areas have been destroyed due to heavy rains, pest attacks and locust invasions."

thenationalnews.com/business/pakis…

To the east-

'Rainfall in Bangladesh was 9% higher than average this year, leading to repeated floods that not only damaged crops, but also affected cultivation in general'

thedailystar.net/business/news/…

In India and Sri Lanka-

Super cyclone Amphan caused ~$13 Billion in damages, destroying fishing equipment and damaging 100,000 hectares of crops

scroll.in/article/982818…
downtoearth.org.in/news/agricultu…

Across southern Bengal,

‘Farmers lost 80 to 90 per cent of crop as fields were flooded’, as a result of which, ‘vegetable prices have skyrocketed in city markets’

indianexpress.com/article/cities…

More broadly, extreme weather saw “several states across the country ... facing disastrous floods. And that has indeed destroyed life and resulted in massive crop loss”

grainmart.in/news/farmers-r…

As elsewhere - the consequence of this extreme weather: spiking vegetable prices “including the kitchen staples — tomato, potato and onion”

timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/guwahati/…

In the far north, Kashmir also experienced price shocks "beyond imagination" due to extreme weather -"When we quote the price of the vegetables to customers, some feel like slapping us"

news.trust.org/item/202010011…

The region had experienced its biggest rain shortfall in 78 years, with 54% less than the average between June and August’; apple harvests plunged by ~40%, and 60% of the summer vegetable crop was destroyed by drought

news.trust.org/item/202010011…

As if flooding & rain deficits were not enough-

'Piranhas of the skies' that 'destroyed farmland in western & northern India are linked to the warming of the Indian Ocean ...The central government has issued an unprecedented locust warning to 16 states'

indiaclimatedialogue.net/2020/12/24/cli…

Such extremes have contributed to a growing crisis: 'Farmers from across the country have been facing the brunt of a changing climate in recent years ... reliability of the monsoonal system was changing ... turning into a string of extreme weather events'
india.mongabay.com/2020/12/enviro…

On to East Asia-

In China, "intense floods in the Three Gorges & the Yangtze Basin has washed away thousands of acres of fertile lands with standing crops"

Food inflation rose by 13.2% in July, causing increasing concern about a potential food crisis.

dnaindia.com/world/report-c…

...

"The Yangtze River basin, which accounts for 70% of China’s rice production, has seen the worst floods since 1939, damaging millions of acres of cropland... the country has experienced a 20% increase in heavy rainfall since 1961"

thehill.com/opinion/intern…

South Korea also suffered food price pressures "due to the record-long summer monsoon season soon followed by consecutive typhoons"

www01.koreaherald.com/view.php?ud=20…

Crops wiped out by the typhoon caused surging prices (+60%) of the staple cabbage and resulted in a widely reported “kimchi catastrophe”

aljazeera.com/economy/2020/1…

The typhoons also wiped out crops in Vietnam-

’150,000 people are at immediate risk of food shortages and hunger after thousands of hectares of crops have been destroyed'

kdrv.com/content/news/5…

The Phillipines-

'Prior to the November report, the Philippine Central Bank had warned a series of destructive typhoons that hit mostly the Luzon area between October & November might put upward pressure on agricultural commodity prices. They were right.'
news.abs-cbn.com/business/12/04…

And Cambodia-

where Cyclone Molave resulted in '270,000 hectares of rice and 88,779 hectares of crops flooded'

khmertimeskh.com/50776745/more-…

And as in other regions of the world, Cambodia saw contrasting extremes in 2020:

‘Farmers suffering from twin hazards of floods, droughts’

khmertimeskh.com/50756473/farme…

With severe drought also extending through parts of Thailand and Vietnam early in the year

reuters.com/article/idAFL4…
e.vnexpress.net/news/news/cent…

To the south-

Australia saw vineyards ruined by
"frost, flood, insect attack, bushfire & one of the worst droughts on record— all in the last 18 months"

amp.abc.net.au/article/128806…

And dumped grape harvest as bushfire smoke took its toll-

"The entire 2020 crop has been lost in some parts of Hunter Valley and Adelaide Hills wine regions, while many growers are picking only a fraction of their fruit"

theguardian.com/australia-news…

Australians also suffered through dramatic vegetable price increases resulting from ‘the ongoing, devastating droughts and bushfires that ravaged Australia’

theguardian.com/food/2020/mar/…

In other extremes:

'Monumental hail storm hits Coonamble farmers on cusp of first harvest after three years of drought' "The damage we've sustained is unbelievable."

abc.net.au/news/rural/202…

In addition, almost 90% of Australian rice growers skipped planting- "low water allocations & years of severe drought meant conditions were too dry to sow the crop" “We’re getting down to the bottom of the cupboard in terms of Australian rice supplies”

bnnbloomberg.ca/drought-forces…

Across the Tasman Sea, drought in New Zealand impacted dairy output bit.ly/2wdJKp2, prompting water diversions bit.ly/2T9hT2o and stressed livestock bit.ly/2Pyq4D0

In South America-

Argentina and Brazil were ‘clobbered by drought’ - "To make matters worse, the lack of rainfall has been matched by excessive heat" A combination that has "stressed corn & soybean crops & has led to a reduction in crop yields"

agriculture.com/news/business/…

By years end, the continent remained “in the grip of a serious drought”, and

“Winter corn crops have suffered low yields, and the late arrival of spring rain has delayed new plantings of soy.”

earthobservatory.nasa.gov/images/147480/…

As well as hampering corn.

grainnet.com/article/218321…

And Coffee:

“I was floored by the conditions at some of these farms. I have never, ever seen anything like this" “So far, I’ve just seen skeletal trees or trees that look lush from afar and then you get close to them, and there’s no coffee”

bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Looking north, Central America was brutalized by hurricanes, in the wake of a drought-

Which also threatened coffee crops and sent climate migrants north in search of a better life.

sandiegouniontribune.com/news/immigrati…

And ... 'Villagers in Guatemala’s Mayan hillside hamlet Sanimtaca had been about to harvest their cardamom crops that take 3 years to grow when waves of floodwater triggered by 2 tropical storms last month washed them away.'

reuters.com/article/topNew…

North America-

In Canada, parts of the central provinces faced extremes and ‘weather whiplash’-

"Our ground was cracking up & everybody was praying for rain & then all of a sudden, it came."

"we just got the crop in last week & it's all underwater"
cbc.ca/news/canada/ma…

Drought in Ontario-

Prompting farmers to “pray for rain”

“Definitely, a prayer a day, probably more like five or six times.”

globalnews.ca/news/7151186/o…

And exceptional dryness in southern Saskatchewan at the end of the year-

“With such dry conditions throughout the province, farmers will hope for major snowfalls in the next few months before spring arrives”

moosejawtoday.com/local-news/202…

And we end with the United States, a country of extremes like no other-

Impacted by:
-a massive megadrought spanning the west
-a multi billion dollar wind storm and unprecedented erosion through the centre,
-and hurricanes along the east coast

blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2020/04/16/cli…

The drought in the south & west of the country hit farmers hard this year, hobbling farmers in California, Texas, Florida

upi.com/Top_News/US/20…

...threatening crops and pasture-

"drought has hit large portions of the United States, especially slamming key pasture and ranges for ranchers. But crops are also seeing downward trends in quality thanks to the hot, dry weather"

modernfarmer.com/2020/07/widesp…

In Colorado-

'In a year of relentless heat and record drought — & destructive wildfires — Colorado’s farmers & ranchers find themselves trying to adapt to life on the front lines of climate change.'

9news.com/article/tech/s…

& along the Colorado River Basin-

“Climate change is drying out the headwaters, & everybody in the Colorado River Basin needs to be concerned”

“A warmer atmosphere is a thirstier atmosphere, and we're seeing less runoff bang for our precipitation buck”
azcentral.com/in-depth/news/…

Including Arizona:

'For 2,000 years, the Hopi have been growing corn in an arid landscape, relying on the rains. Now climate change threatens their farming traditions'

azcentral.com/in-depth/news/…

In Oregon:

“above-average spring temperatures melted mountain snow several weeks earlier than normal ...This led to water flushing through local rivers & streams before it could be used for irrigation during the late spring & summer growing seasons.”

eastoregonian.com/news/local/les…

Extensive drought continued through the end of the year:

‘The drought’s getting worse and the reservoirs are drying up... Hopi, dry-farmed corn crops have withered in the midst of perhaps the longest, toughest drought in 1,000 years’

paysonroundup.com/news/drought-t…

Moving to the mid-west, few could have imagined a massive, intense windstorm-

That resulted in approximately *$7.5 Billion* in damage.

‘The storm... generated winds of up to 140 mph (225 kph) that flattened millions of acres of crops'

abc7chicago.com/weather/damage…

& in the east-

'No matter the crop, farmers from Maine to central PA struggled with a severe drought during the summer of 2020'

“It was a challenge for all commodities. We became aware of the drought in mid-May & it lasted right through harvest”
lancasterfarming.com/news/main_edit…

And...

'Record flooding from Tropical Storm Eta this month caused severe damage to South Florida vegetable crops that were bound for holiday tables & could lead to shortages or price increases ...Some areas were inundated by up to two feet of rain'

sun-sentinel.com/local/fl-ne-fa…

Finally:

'On Louisiana’s Gulf coast, hit by a record 5 hurricanes or tropical storms this year, Native American tribes are some of North America’s early climate refugees’, with ruinous salinity damage to crops.

southernmarylandchronicle.com/2020/11/30/dri…