The price of food is on the rise, and one reason
is climate change. A new report from the Texas
Department of Agriculture points to a warming
planet for harming farming and ranching.
In addition to climate change, food costs have
also been negatively impacted by the recovery
from the COVID-19 pandemic, higher fertilizer
costs, and higher energy prices due to Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine.
The report, titled “Texas Food Access Study,”
explained that record droughts and record
flooding are taking a toll on the state’s ability to
grow food, and that’s increasing growing food
insecurity in Texas.
Edwin Marty, the food policy manager for the
City of Austin, said the impacts of climate
change on food affordability were clear.
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“The temperatures are hotter, colder, wetter
and dryer. That seems like a contradiction but
that’s the very essence of climate change that
we’re seeing. This cycle is playing out
unfortunately against agriculture in Texas,”
Marty said.
The food access study, conducted with the
University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, found
that “climate instability” is worsening soil loss,
water quality, droughts, fires, floods and other
environmental disasters in the state.
“It is very difficult to produce fruits and
vegetables and graze cattle in an environment
that is both unpredictable and extreme,” it
explained.
2022 was one of the driest years on record for
Texas, and about half of the state was still in
drought by the end of the year.
This resulted in crop failures and low yields for
farmers. Ranchers were forced to cull their
cattle.
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