Extreme weather events, which threaten crops and livestock, are becoming more common around the world as climate change alters weather patterns.
According to the European Environment Agency (EEA), over the past decade Europe has faced an increasing number of severe climate-related natural hazards, droughts, forest fires, heatwaves, storms and heavy rainfall.
“These occasions are an unfortunate reminder of the changing and volatile climate that Europe will have to adapt to and prepare for, as it takes steps to drastically reduce carbon emissions in order to curb and restrict climate change,” an EEA spokesperson said.
“Before 1900, extreme weather events were quite rare,” Peter Wortsman, a member of the European Food and Agriculture Association (EFFP), said in a speech at IFE 2024. “But with 1 degree of warming, which we have already exceeded, the heat waves are 2. 8. ” Extreme precipitation is 1. 3 times more frequent and droughts are 1. 7 times more frequent.
These extreme weather events have posed a significant risk to food security in a number of ways.
“In England, we had the 18 wettest months since 1836,” says Wortsman. “This has a real effect on crop growth, because when the weather is wet, farmers find it difficult to access fields when they need them. “. »
In addition, many farms suffered devastating floods that led to the total destruction of crops. As a result, the Agricultural and Horticultural Development Board (AHDB) predicts that UK wheat production will decline by 15%.
An excessive weather occasion is the occurrence of weather conditions at a specific position or time of the year. It will have features in terms of scale, location, timing, and scope.
This risk to crops adds to the stresses already faced by farmers in Europe and around the world. In recent years, the EU has had to enforce several environmental laws, adding the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) as a component of the EU. These regulations, while essential for the environment, put enormous pressure on farmers who are struggling to adapt.
In fact, recently, the EU was forced to scrap a bill to halve pesticide use, following sustained protests from farmers.
“It’s not that farmers are opposed to operating in harmony with nature, they just want to make the transition,” Wortsman says. “Right now they feel like it’s all on their shoulders. “
So how can we, the farmers, create a more sustainable food system at the same time?
“Regenerative agriculture is a viable solution,” Wortsman says. “It’s more focused on principles than rules, and on outcomes rather than tasks, which means it’s harder to delineate because it’s a spectrum than something binary like ‘organic. ‘”
However, many farmers are concerned about the cost of implementing regenerative farming practices and declining crop yields, but this investment will pay off over time.
Regenerative agriculture is an agricultural technique that protects and rehabilitates the land and the environment. It focuses on soil regeneration, supporting and editing biodiversity, the water cycle, protective ecosystems and supporting biological carbon sequestration.
“The good thing about regenerative agriculture is that it reduces synthetic inputs and the suitability of the land. By working with nature, this translates into higher profitability for farmers and a much more resilient land,” says Wortsman. “But the main challenge is managing this transition. “
To transition from traditional farming to more regenerative farming, farmers will most likely want to invest in fast machinery and equipment. They will also want to invest time in implementing the new systems and receive information on how to adapt to them. This provides an opportunity for food brands to the farmers who source them.
“They are the most influential players in the chain because they buy the crops and have the resources to invest,” says Wortsman.
And it’s a wonderful opportunity for brands to move forward in creating sustainable source chains, as Kellogg’s has demonstrated. The cereal’s logo sought to invest in a more sustainable source chain and that’s why it worked with its farmers to implement a delivery plan. The system, which has now been in operation for ten years, focuses on a variety of sustainability issues, adding the potency of nitrogen use and coverage of yellowhead bird populations.
But perhaps most importantly for brands and retailers, “if you don’t invest in resilience, consumers will go elsewhere,” as consumers become more aware of climate updates and the need for sustainable food production.
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