{"id":276706,"date":"2023-09-01T15:51:39","date_gmt":"2023-09-01T13:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276706"},"modified":"2023-09-01T15:51:42","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T13:51:42","slug":"bloomberg-falsely-says-climate-change-is-harming-crop-production-reality-says-otherwise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/climatescience.press\/?p=276706","title":{"rendered":"Bloomberg Falsely Says Climate Change is Harming Crop Production, Reality Says Otherwise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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From ClimateRealism<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ByLinnea Lueken<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A recent post at Bloomberg, titled \u201cClimate Change Is Helping Pests and Diseases Destroy Our Food,\u201d<\/a>\u00a0claims that recent crop shortages are due to increases in pest infestations and disease because of climate change. This is false for multiple reasons. First, the crops listed are not seeing substantial declines outside of particular production regions, which is to be expected from agriculture some years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bloomberg contributor Mumbi Gitau writes that pests and disease \u201care exacerbating crop shortages that have sent prices for goods like cocoa, olive oil, and orange juice soaring.\u201d Gitau also asserts that these shortages will \u201cbecome even more prevalent as extreme weather events multiply.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To be clear data show that extreme weather events are not getting more frequent or extreme, even amid the last hundred-plus years of warming.\u00a0Climate Realism<\/em>\u00a0has covered this fact many times,\u00a0here<\/a>,\u00a0here<\/a>, and\u00a0here<\/a>, for just a few examples.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the article covers several foods allegedly threatened by climate change which have mostly been covered by\u00a0Climate Realism<\/em>\u00a0before, including\u00a0cocoa<\/a>,\u00a0olives<\/a>, orange juice,\u00a0grains<\/a>, and\u00a0tomatoes<\/a>, the article places a bit more emphasis the first three, and so we will do likewise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beginning with cocoa, Gitau says \u201cWest Africa, home to two-thirds of global cocoa supply, has seen serious difficulties with its crop in recent seasons, causing wholesale prices to soar near historic highs this year.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are two main diseases attacking cocoa in West Africa, according to Gitau. The first is \u201cblack pod disease\u201d \u2013 a fungal disease that is spread most easily in the wet conditions that parts of West Africa have seen. The other is swollen shoot virus, which is spread by pests that already live in warmer parts of the world, so there is no evidence modest warming is spread those pests to regions where they hadn\u2019t previously existed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cocoa is typically grown in rainforests and warmer equatorial parts of the world, regions that are naturally susceptible to those diseases in the first place. Additionally, as explained in \u201cCorrect, CNN, Cocoa Prices Are Due to Natural Weather Conditions and Disease,\u201d<\/a> climate change is not necessary for these kinds of illnesses to break out in cocoa plantations. The International Cocoa Organization (ICCO) says on their website<\/a> that \u201c[a]verage yields for cocoa production are low due to extensive systems of cultivation, ageing tree populations, high incidence and poor control systems of pests and diseases, ageing farmer populations, shortage of affordable labour, lack of easily available inputs, poor extension services and above all, the use of poor\/average quality planting material.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because so much of the world\u2019s cocoa is produced in a limited geographical area, any disease or poor conditions that strike the region will have a disproportionate impact on the total supply. Despite this, the same\u00a0Climate Realism<\/em>\u00a0shows that world production of cocoa has steadily increased over time, despite fluctuations in yield. In fact, both yield and production of cocoa beans in West Africa have shown an increasing trend over period of modest warming,\u00a0according to data<\/a>\u00a0from the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

(See Figure below)<\/p>\n\n\n\n