Extreme Heat Threatens Farming

By Jose Luis Gallego, environmental communicator (@ecogallego)

Scientists who have been following the evolution of the climate crisis have sounded the alarm for decades about its worsening impact on the Mediterranean area. All models show a sustained increase in both the frequency and intensity of extreme heat events, including marine heatwaves. These events will increase further in the coming decades, most likely surpassing the critical 2°C threshold in rising average temperatures around 2030. 

In this scenario, agriculture is one of the sectors to suffer the greatest impact. For this reason, the assessment reports published by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) are paying increasingly more attention to the impact of rising temperatures on agricultural production, warning of grave consequences for maintaining food security. 

Now the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) have released a joint report in support of the IPCC’s warnings, certifying that the impact of the increasing frequency, intensity, and duration of heatwaves on the food and agriculture sector is growing.  

The publication describes the physical science of climate change-related extreme heat, as well as the observed and projected vulnerabilities and impacts on farming.  According to the FAO, extreme heat refers to periods “where daytime and nighttime temperatures rise above their usual ranges for a protracted period, causing physiological stress and direct physical damage to crops”.

Among the adaptation measures to respond to increasing events of this nature, experts insist that agricultural activities must adjust to the new climate reality. To this end, the organizations offer various recommendations, such as crop selection based on indigenous and ancestral varieties (better adapted to heat or water stress), adjusting planting and harvest periods, modifying management practices to move towards a more sustainable agricultural model, and applying new technologies to improve efficiency and protect crops from the effects of heatwaves.

In this regard, the report emphasizes the growing importance of early warning systems: a particularly valuable tool to help farmers respond to extreme events. As the FAO points out, farmers cannot prepare for something they are not sure will happen; this is why an early warning system is one of the most effective tools in responding to extreme heat.

Dr. QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General and China’s former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, states that extreme heat represents “a systemic risk to global food security and to the livelihoods of more than 1.23 billion people who rely on agriculture. This work highlights how extreme heat is a major risk multiplier, exerting mounting pressure on crops, livestock, fisheries and forests, and on the communities and economies that depend upon them.” 

WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo observes that “extreme heat is increasingly defining the conditions under which agrifood systems operate”, because “more than simply an isolated climatic hazard, it acts as a compounding risk factor that magnifies existing weaknesses across agricultural systems.” She therefore emphasizes that “early warnings and climate services like seasonal outlooks are vital to help us adapt to the new reality.” 

The report not only describes the impact of this extreme meteorological phenomenon on crop yields but also zeroes in on how it threatens the health and safety of agricultural workers. According to the FAO, more than one third of the global workforce – around 1.2 billion workers – are exposed to extreme heat in their workplace, and agriculture is one of the most severely affected sectors. 

According to the report’s authors, the number of days per year when it will be too hot to work in the fields could increase to 250 in much of southern Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and broad swaths of Central and South America. Some experts include southern European countries in this scenario. 

Tackling this new climate reality means moving towards a more sustainable agricultural model based on efficiency, greater integration into the environment and in harmony with the biodiversity it contains. This type of agriculture is more resilient to meteorological extremes, contributes to keeping workers healthy, improves the economy of local communities, and maintains natural ecosystems in balance. 

Changing the existing model will be neither easy nor fast, which is why the report’s final section calls for greater flexibility in accessing financial services through cash transfers, more effective insurance and payment schemes, and other social protection schemes in response to climate change. The FAO concludes that adaptation will require significant investments and difficult decisions about what can be cultivated going forward and where. For these reasons and given the probability that heat events will only intensify in coming years, “agricultural producers need immediate solutions”.