In our latest story, “Climate Change Poses Serious Threats to Food Distribution,” environmental science writer Elizabeth Grossman shows that extreme weather isn’t just a threat to harvests. Paired with a heavily centralized food system, climate change could dangerously undermine our ability to move food from farm to table. The story is online today with our media partner, Earth Island Journal.
“The same effects that are hurting food production—storm surges, floods, and other extreme weather events all around the world—are also highlighting the vulnerability of food distribution systems that rely on long-distance transportation, centralized wholesale markets, and the often concentrated food production sources,” writes Grossman.
In developing nations, nearly 40 percent of all food waste is related to distribution challenges. But even in the U.S., where harvests are abundant and the delivery infrastructure advanced, food security is a growing concern. In fact, the very sophistication of our food system puts farmers and consumers at risk, Grossman reports.
“What makes for economic efficiency in large-scale agriculture and food production also introduces vulnerabilities,” Alfonso Morales, an associate professor of urban and regional planning at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, tells Grossman. “What we’re starting to see,” he says, are “the consequences of the over-centralization of our food distribution system.”
The U.S. government has devoted significant attention to climate change’s impact on food production through the creation of “Climate Hubs,” but distribution has received little attention, notes Grossman. “Food-to-market is not within our realm of responsibility,” says Jerry Hatfield, leader of the USDA’s Midwest Climate Hub.
As Grossman reports, cities and states—including Boston, Minneapolis, Miami, Maryland, and Michigan—are drafting their own food-resiliency plans. New York City is a prime example. After Hurricane Sandy flooded grocery stores and caused extended power outages in 2012, the city moved to safeguard its food supply against future storms. Using a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, New York is fortifying Hunts Point, the distribution center for most of the 5.7 million tons of food that feed the city. Officials also hope to diversify the city’s food sources by purchasing more from local farms.
Grossman notes that municipalities around the world want to similarly ramp up their regional procurement, which could be the silver lining in a looming storm cloud for farmers.
You can read the full story at Earth Island Journal and here on our website.