The climate crisis is coming for your groceries – Image for illustrative purposes only (Image credits: Unsplash)
A joint report from the World Meteorological Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization shows that prolonged heat waves have already cut yields of key crops and stressed livestock across multiple continents. The analysis combines weather and agricultural data to trace how rising temperatures compound existing weather patterns like El Niño. It singles out Brazil as a detailed case study while noting similar pressures in dozens of other countries. The findings arrive as the past 11 years stand as the warmest on record.
Brazil Faces Repeated Heat Assaults on Its Farms
Central and southern Brazil endured two major heat waves in quick succession in 2024. Temperatures stayed elevated for five days in late April, following an earlier event that had already strained the region. In Rio de Janeiro the heat index hit 144.1 degrees Fahrenheit in March, the highest level in a decade. These conditions contributed to lower soy and corn harvests in southeastern states and damaged peanuts, potatoes, sugarcane, and arabica coffee. Livestock in the central-west region suffered prolonged heat stress, while flooding triggered by a blocked cold front disrupted shrimp supplies in the south.
Similar Losses Reported in Chile, the United States, India, and Kyrgyzstan
Other nations have recorded comparable setbacks. In Chile, warming ocean waters in 2016 triggered algae blooms that killed an estimated 100,000 metric tons of farmed salmon and trout. The 2021 Pacific Northwest heat wave wiped out raspberry and blackberry crops, reduced Christmas tree timber volume by 70 percent on some farms, and increased burned forest area in North America by 21 to 24 percent. India’s 2022 heat wave cut wheat production by 9 to 34 percent in more than a third of its states and reduced milk output from heat-stressed dairy animals by up to 15 percent. In Kyrgyzstan, an unusual spring temperature spike of 50 degrees Fahrenheit above average helped spark a locust outbreak that damaged cereal harvests.
Workforce Exposure Remains a Critical Blind Spot
The report projects that parts of South Asia, tropical sub-Saharan Africa, and sections of Central and South America could see as many as 250 days a year too hot for outdoor work by the end of the century under high-emissions scenarios. An earlier International Labour Organization study found that extreme temperatures already place more than 70 percent of the global workforce, or 2.4 billion people, at high risk. United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres responded by calling for stronger protections for exposed workers, better use of data for resilience, and faster fossil-fuel phase-outs. Yet the new FAO-WMO analysis focuses its adaptation advice almost entirely on crops, livestock, and ecosystems, with only passing references to long-standing international worker-safety agreements.
Experts Call for Stronger Focus on People Who Grow the Food
Postdoctoral researcher Naia Ormaza Zulueta at the University of British Columbia notes that the report improves the diagnosis of heat risks but falls short on solutions for agricultural laborers. She points out that the calculations omit hourly and nighttime wet-bulb temperatures, which likely understate the true number of dangerous exposure days. The recommendations also omit concrete steps for shielding the billions of outdoor workers who plant, harvest, and tend livestock. Martial Bernoux of the FAO’s climate office acknowledges the urgency, stating that current progress is not fast enough and that residual risks continue to grow.
The workers are present in the diagnosis, but they’re largely absent in the prescription.
The report urges greater climate-related development finance for food systems and expanded early-warning systems. Without parallel measures to safeguard the people who perform the physical labor, however, the human cost of rising heat may continue to climb even as production methods evolve.
