Food Security

Agricultural productivity is vulnerable to direct impacts on crop and livestock development and yield from changing ­climate conditions and extreme weather events, and indirect impacts through increasing pressures from pests and pathogens, the report says. Rising temperatures also affect food safety; for every degree the ambient temperature rises above 43 degrees Fahrenheit in an area, the occurrence of foodborne Salmonella increases by 12 percent. Rising air temperatures also result in corresponding increases in insects, weeds, and fungal pests due to milder winter temperatures. One possible result is growers may need to increase pesticide use to maintain production levels.

In a recently published study of pesticide applications of commercial soybeans grown in a band from Minnesota to Louisiana since 1999, scientists at the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) concluded that increases in total pesticide applications were positively correlated with increases in minimum winter temperatures. In temperate regions, low winter temperatures often keep the distribution and survival of agricultural pests in check. “One of our most crucial challenges is finding ways to maintain and increase crop production levels in the face of climate change,” says ARS administrator Chavonda Jacobs-Young.

Until now, the U.S. agricultural sector has managed to adapt to climate change through a variety of strategies, the federal report says. “However, the magnitude of climate change projected for this century and beyond, particularly under higher emissions scenarios, will challenge the ability of the agriculture sector to continue to successfully adapt,” it warns. As part of its Climate Action Plan, the Obama administration in July 2014 unveiled a program aimed at strengthening the resilience of the global food system in a changing climate. The White House called upon the private sector “to leverage open government data and other resources to build tools that will make the U.S. and global food systems more resilient against the impacts of climate change.” In response, a number of federal agencies and private companies will be collaborating on “data-driven innovations.” Some examples include the following.

Microsoft and USDA will jointly launch a climate-change-focused “Innovation Challenge” to inspire the development of new tools and services that harness data available via the federal website www.data.gov, as well as an initial collection of USDA datasets that will be made available through Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace.

The Coca-Cola Company will use data-driven tools to quantify its use of water, fertilizer, and energy, and monitor its greenhouse emissions. By the end of 2014, Coca-Cola will implement this initiative with two of its four leading suppliers; by the end of 2015, it will engage the initiative with farmers representing 250,000 acres; and by 2020, with farmers representing up to 1 million acres—equating to roughly half of the company’s global corn supply.

Nestlé will set greenhouse-gas reduction targets based upon science, incorporating both absolute-carbon and carbon-intensity aspects. The company will also incorporate climate change provisions into its responsible sourcing and traceability program, engage in further water stewardship programs, and extend education and training within its Farmer Connect initiative for good farming practices and water stewardship.

Monsanto will donate a multi-site/multi-year maize breeding trial dataset to open data portals maintained by the International Center for Tropical Agriculture and the Agricultural Model Intercomparison & Improvement Project. Opening these data will make it possible for public- and private-sector scientists to improve models being used to understand how climate and water-availability changes will impact crop productivity and food security.

Kellogg Company will use the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment agricultural data and climate-related maps to foster geographically relevant implementation in its global sourcing to help create efficient, adaptable, and sustainable supply chains as well as identify information gaps and needs to improve the resilience of the agricultural sector to climate change.

What Companies Should Do Now

In regards to the matter of U.S. food safety and security, companies should not wait until the FDA issues the final intentional adulteration rule before acting because many control measures can be put in place now. “Look at your vulnerabilities and assess where the gaps are,” Hsieh recommends. “For instance, mixing areas have been identified as places needing access controls. Start to create your food defense plans now, ahead of the final regulations. In the end, it’s not about regulations but about protecting the consumer and your company’s reputation. You don’t want to be the one that’s been closed down because of a tragedy,” Hsieh says.