Climate change and its impact on olives, coffee and grapes

An article in the Wall Street Journal (June 10, 2024) titled “Climate Change is Coming for the Finer Things in Life” describes heavy rains causing mildew that has destroyed grapes in Italy, hot weather and drought impacting olive groves and heavy rains and heat waves impacting both coffee beans and withering coffee flowers thus impacting yields in India. The result is worries about crop quality, lower yields and higher and more volatile prices. But crops are also moving north from southern regions with grapes grown in Sweden, olives in Austria etc. Installing irrigation systems, thinning grape vines, planning drought resistant crops and moving north all increase costs and may impact quality, thus increasing prices. Should we expect new crop locations, with consequences for existing southern production countries and a shift to a greater level of automation in these new farms ? Will climate controlled greenhouses or vertical farms have to replace current growing methods ? Or will consumption drop as a result of the higher prices to make olive oil, coffee and wine less accessible ?

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About aviyer2010

Professor
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