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America’s food security is at immediate risk, according to a report leaked this month by the New York Times. Americans should expect crop production to fall by as much as 2 percent each decade for the rest of the 21st Century.
As the world’s population and accompanying food demand continue to rise, the food supply will not keep pace, say the world’s top scientists. The leaked report, drafted by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change at the United Nations, is the direst yet, and departs from previous, more hopeful, reports. With greenhouse gas emissions and temperatures rising, agricultural crops, which are sensitive to both, will struggle to survive, leading to soaring prices and starving populations.
America’s drought last year, which devastated food crops, is illustrative of a trend that will become more prevalent. Yet we keep kicking the food security can down the road by reassuring ourselves that we have enough food supply and that it’s merely a matter of distribution. This is a fool’s errand.
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