Climate Change will also Change your Food

What is your favorite food? Whatever it may be, you’d better enjoy it when you can because climate change is going to change the way your food is going to taste.

We already know that climate change is real and it’s happening right now. Climate change affects us all, especially the agriculture sector which is being forced to adapt to the new climatic conditions. Agricultural sectors are highly dependent on the climate. Temperature and precipitation play a major role in crop growth and harvest cycles. Change in any of the climatic conditions can throw off the natural crop production cycles and could pose a challenge for farmers. However, climate change will not only affect how crops will grow but it will also affect the nutrition level and the flavor of the crops.

Climate change will affect crop production

With the growth of global population, we are constantly faced with a shortage of resources. The amount of land suitable for agriculture around the world is rapidly decreasing. On top of that, factors like pollution, contaminated water, deforestation and so on are making it increasingly difficult to find arable land around the globe. The type of food that is available and the way food is being produced today are also shifting.

With the current trend of global warming, farmers are finding it difficult to grow traditional crops on their fields. The change in weather pattern and variation in both rainfall and temperature can cause crops to grow at different times or not grow at all. Changes in climate may threaten the life cycle of some crops and it could wipe out some crops entirely from certain regions of the globe.

Climate change could make food taste worse

According to a report published by the scientists from the University of Melbourne, called Appetite for Change, researchers have found that crops will continuously lose their quality. They will lose taste, nutritional value and flavor with the shift in climatic conditions.

“We’re going to be eating increasingly bland, tasteless, mushy food because of the way shifting temperatures are affecting farming.” – ENN.com.

Climate change will not only affect the growth of food, some food will become scarce as it will no longer grow in certain areas any more. The amount of food grown naturally around the world will increasingly decrease, putting more and more pressure on the farmlands, according to the report published by the scientists from the University of Melbourne.

Higher temperatures, heat waves, droughts, and less reliable rainfall will affect food production. Higher temperature can affect the texture and flavor of crops like carrots, for example, and can also lead to deformed, lower quality crops. The combination of higher temperature and extreme heat can also damage eggplant, onions, raspberries, etc.

According to the report, by 2050, up to 70% of the regions in Australia used to grow wine grapes will be less suitable for vineyards.

As droughts hit us constantly and for longer periods of time, it could affect the crops that need water to grow and thrive. Both water and proper temperature are vital for natural crop growth cycle.

“It’s definitely a wakeup call when you hear that the toast and raspberry jam you have for breakfast, for example, might not be as readily available in 50 years’ time,” – Richard Eckard, associate professor at the University of Melbourne, co-author of the study. (ThinkProgress)

Conclusion

Climate change affects all of us. Producing food for our very existence will become more and more difficult in the future with the increasing global temperature. Vegetation in its natural state may find it more difficult to grow and thrive because of extreme heat, pollution and a shortage of water in the future. Moreover, food will not only become scarce, scientists also speculate that food will become tasteless and of lower quality in the future.

It is important that we understand what causes global impacts and how to minimize our effect on the environment. We should address issues concerning global warming and pollution right now, or we will have no future on this planet.

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Video Source: Ecolonomics