Climate Change Adversely Impacts Agriculture and Threatens Food Production
The agricultural sector faces many challenges due to global climate change, negatively impacting planting practices in all regions of the world. This scenario directly affects the world economy and food security.
The impact on food production already begins in the seed planting process. Until recently, farmers relied only on consolidated and extensively studied techniques, adjusted to historically expected climate patterns for certain times of the year. However, recent climate unpredictability has drastically changed these scenarios and compromised crops.
Prolonged drought, for example, results in seeds becoming unviable, unable to germinate due to water scarcity. On the other hand, excessive rainfall is also harmful, leading to the death of plants due to the large amount of water. “With prolonged drought, seeds become unviable, unable to germinate due to lack of water. In other cases, with excessive rainfall, plants succumb due to the accumulation of water in the soil, causing the release of oxygen and depriving the plants of the essential conditions for survival”, says professor Carlos Eduardo Cerri, from the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz in Piracicaba (Esalq).
In recent years, with this scenario marked by extreme climatic events such as frosts, periods of drought and excess rain, occurring in a disorderly manner and outside the usual harvests, worrying soil degradation has been triggered, forcing farmers to redesign their farming strategies. planting. Areas that were previously traditionally dedicated to agriculture are being abandoned, while others, previously not so suitable, require adaptations.
This reallocation of crops causes significant losses in productivity and also in the quality of the seeds and, consequently, in the food harvest. “The increase in global temperatures has caused physiological changes in plants, affecting their photosynthetic characteristics. Although the initial increase in CO2 concentration in the atmosphere can stimulate photosynthesis, the exacerbated growth of this phenomenon is causing disturbances in plants in C3 photosynthetic cycles, which are more sensitive to these variations”, explains Cerri. The professor warns that “this phenomenon has a direct impact on the quality of the food produced and, consequently, on food safety”.
For Professor Cerri, however, agriculture can be an ally in the fight against global warming, identified as one of the main factors behind climate change. Cerri states that, if this agriculture is practiced correctly, it can help slow down the process of global warming. “Carbon sequestration can be mediated naturally by plants, through photosynthesis.” And it goes further: “The plant serves as food for animals, for people, for biofuel and, when the carbon in the plant tissue undergoes decomposition by microorganisms in the soil and stabilizes, it can remain there for centuries”.
Adaptation to new environments
The study Global Warming and Future Scenarios for Brazilian Agriculture , a collaboration between Unicamp and Embrapa, with support from the United Kingdom Embassy, predicts, for the near future, that soil degradation will force the relocation of plantations of some traditional foods in certain regions . Cassava , traditionally cultivated in the Northeast, and coffee, a cultural and economic icon in the Southeast, for example, should find a more favorable environment in the South of the country. This predicted geographic change, driven by climate change, raises questions about the adaptation of seeds to these new conditions.
However, the researchers’ expectations are about the time needed for the seeds of these plants to adjust to the specific characteristics of the soil in their new homes. Experts warn that this transition period will depend on a complex interaction of factors, including the chemical, physical and biological conditions of the destination soil. The wait for answers gains importance given the imminent challenge of ensuring food security in the midst of an agricultural scenario in constant transformation.
In addition to the soil, the seeds themselves will have to adapt to the new location, reminds Professor Cerri. “This time varies a lot, there are plants that are more sensitive, such as broad-leaved plants, which we technically include as C3 photosynthetic cycle plants, such as soybeans, beans, cotton, wheat, rice and coffee, and there are plants that are a little more adaptable. situations, which are C4, sugar cane and corn, for example. So, this adaptation will also depend on the type of plant.”
Economic consequences
In addition to harming agricultural production, climate change directly impacts food prices. The increase in production costs and fluctuations in supply result in significant effects on the economy. Professor Luciano Nakabashi, from the Faculty of Economics, Administration and Accounting of Ribeirão Preto (FEA-RP) at USP, highlights that climate change leads to greater instability in the supply of food, which, in turn, influences prices. “This increased volatility could result in more significant periods of crop failures.”
Nakabashi also warns that this instability in supply, with low food production, could lead to an increase in global hunger. “This can result in times when food shortages lead to an increase in hunger, posing an additional challenge on the world stage.”