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Americans could see a shortage of beer and wine if global warming continues
Several areas of food production have been impacted by crop failures or lower yields in recent years due to extreme weather events believed to be caused by climate change and if these issues persist, it could potentially lead to shortages or price hikes for numerous essential foods and even luxuries such as beer, wine and other alcoholic beverages.
A recent report from Wired investigated the impact that rising global temperatures and erratic weather have been having on the farming and food production industry and the findings are troubling as crops of fruit, vegetables and grain for both human consumption and animal feed have all faced challenges in 2023.
Climate change impacting harvests of essential food items
The report noted that sudden unprecedented drops in harvest yields have increased every year since the 1960s and that extreme heat waves in areas where crops had typically been grown are becoming increasingly common.
In 2023 alone, the United Kingdom and Ireland experienced a shortage of tomatoes after cold weather in Spain and Morocco impacted harvests while potato production in Northern Ireland dropped by two million tons after an extended period of dry weather.
India saw fruit prices rise by 400% and farmers were left unable to harvest corn for livestock after crops failed amid torrential rains.
Harvests of olives in Spain, for products such as olive oil, were also impacted, leading to a below-normal yield for a second year in a row and in Peru, the worlds leading exporter of blueberries, the crop was half of its normal size.
Agricultural production of grain has also been put under stress thanks to rising temperatures and shrinking water supplies. Juan David Arbelaez, a small-grains scientist and assistant professor at the University of Illinois told Wired that: For every degree Celsius [increase], the yield of oats reduces by about 1.8 bushels per acre.
Luxuries such as beer and wine could face shortages or price increases
As well as many of the above food items that faced lower harvests in 2023, production of wine in Europe, Australia and South America also fell to the lowest levels since 1961.
On top of that, beer, which is typically made using barley faces potential production issues in the years to come as a multinational research team predicted that future droughts could cut barley production by as much as 17% globally.
As a result, this could lead to conflict between the need of barley for beer production and livestock feed. The team predicted that these conflicts could see the price of beer increase threefold in the years to come.
How food production challenges are being combated
In 2021, Frances Institut National de lOrigine et de la Qualit� relaxed its incredibly strict rules on the types of grapes used for wine production to allow for six new grape varieties that are more suited to higher temperatures.
Meanwhile, the US and Australia have no such similar rules, allowing for the development of new climate-friendly grapes to aid in wine production.
The production of grains such as oats has dropped from 47 million acres to just two million acres in Midwestern states as most oat crops consumed by Americans are now grown north of the border in Canada where temperatures are cooler and barley, which is a particularly hardy grain, can also be grown in cooler temperatures.
However, there is only so far north crop production can be moved and as mentioned, there could be future conflicts on the needs of grain production if climate change continues with essential food items likely taking priority over luxuries such as alcohol.
And in terms of developing new, hardier varieties of fruit and veg, there are issues there as well. James Schnable, a plant geneticist and professor of agronomy at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln told Wired: Plant breeding is a slow process. It takes seven to 10 years to develop and release a new corn variety. But we know that as a result of climate change, the depletion of aquifers, changes in policies and commodity prices, the environment seven to 10 years from now is going to be very different.
