But climate change is affecting you in many hidden ways. Heatwaves are longer, hotter and more intense and climate change is driving worsening drought and more frequent extreme weather events.
In turn, this is affecting your food. Today, the Climate Council released a report that shows the price, quality and seasonality of Australia’s food is already being affected by climate change with Australia’s future food security under threat.
Feeding a Hungry Nation: Climate Change, Food and Farming found Australia’s food supply chain is highly exposed to disruption from increasing extreme weather events driven by climate change with farmers already struggling to cope with more frequent and intense droughts and changing weather patterns.
Climate change impacts are already being observed in many of Australia’s favourite foods, including rice, lamb, milk, beef, stone fruits and wine grapes.
Climate change is also
1. Driving up food prices
More frequent and intense heatwaves are already affecting food prices in Australia. Food prices during the 2005-2007 drought increased at twice the rate of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) with fresh fruit and vegetables the worst hit, increasing 43% and 33% respectively. Cyclone Larry destroyed 90% of the North Queensland banana crop in 2006, affecting supply for nine months and increasing prices by 500%. Food prices will continue to be affected as the climate continues to warm and weather extremes get worse
2. Affecting the quality and nutritional value of food
Many foods produced by plants growing at elevated CO2 levels have reduced protein and mineral concentrations, reducing their nutritional value. Harsher climate conditions will increase use of more heat-tolerant breeds in beef production, some of which have lower meat quality.
3. Changing the seasonality of food
More frequent and extreme heatwaves and changing weather patterns is changing the seasonality of many fruits and vegetables. Extreme heat or weather events can cut short seasons while maximum temperature limits exist for many vegetable crops. Extreme heat reduces flower numbers and pollination and affects quality and flavor while inadequate chilling can affect the quality and yield of many stone fruits.
4. Affecting your favourite drop
Up to 70% of Australia’s wine-growing regions with a Mediterranean climate will be less suitable for grape growing by 2050; iconic grape-growing regions such as Margaret River (WA), the Barossa and Riverland (SA), Sunraysia (VIC) and the Riverina (NSW) will be the most affected by higher temperatures and lower rainfall, especially for red varieties such as Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot. Higher temperatures are likely to continue to cause earlier ripening and consequent reductions in grape quality.
5. Interrupting food supply
Australia is extremely vulnerable to disruptions in food supply through extreme weather events. There is typically less than 30 days supply of non-perishable food and less than five days supply of perishable food in the supply chain at any one time. Households generally only hold about a 3-5 day supply of food. Such low reserves are extremely vulnerable to natural disasters and disruption to transport from extreme weather.
For instance, during the 2011 Queensland floods, several towns such as Rockhampton were cut off for up to two weeks, preventing food resupply, and Brisbane came within a day of running out of bread.
There’s no room for complacency in planning for our future food security.
We must urgently transition to a new low carbon economy if we are to adequately safeguard our food supply.
