1. Home
  2. Hubs: tools and knowledge
  3. Extreme Heat Portal

Heat and agriculture

Extreme heat is an increasingly significant threat to food security, disrupting food production, processing, storage, distribution, and access across local, national, and global food systems.

Rising temperatures, prolonged heatwaves, and sustained heatwaves can reduce crop yields, stress livestock, degrade soil moisture, and strain water resources, with cascading impacts along food supply chains. See below for the latest selections related to extreme heat's impact on agriculture.

Faced with extreme heat, farmers are turning to the forest for solutions.
Uploaded on
Update
Summer grab bag: No, disasters aren’t “natural” + Microinfrastructure, heat and adaptation lessons from the global south

They explore the idea of appliances as “microinfrastructure”—from fans and air conditioners that reduce heat risk to refrigeration, cold storage, and solar water pumps that support food security and livelihoods.

America Adapts
Update
French winemakers forecast 30-year low harvest after severe drought and heat

Estimates suggest drop in production with vineyards also concerned ‘smoke taint’ from wildfires may affect quality.

Guardian, the (UK)
Large fisheries declines linked to compound and extreme climate events thumbnail
Documents and publications
Large fisheries declines linked to compound and extreme climate events

Study finds extreme high ocean temperatures and low productivity, when combined, significantly increase the risk of fisheries declines worldwide. Risks are projected to intensify by mid-century, highlighting the need for adaptive fisheries management.

Nature Communications (Nature)
Update
Absorb, adapt, transform: What climate resilience means for South Asia's farmers

South Asia’s small-scale farmers are facing mounting climate risks, but building resilience requires more than absorbing shocks—it demands adaptation, stronger institutions, finance and market access.

Observer Research Foundation
Update
France to ease strict rules on iconic cheeses as heat dries pastures

France is temporarily relaxing strict production rules for several iconic cheeses as drought and record heat leave pastures severely depleted.

France 24
Farming for 5-a-day: how resilient is the UK’s supply of fruit, veg and beans in a changing climate? thumbnail
Documents and publications
Farming for 5-a-day: how resilient is the UK’s supply of fruit, veg and beans in a changing climate?

UK imports 80% of their fruit and 47% of their veg. Worsening climate means this reliance on imports poses a threat to their food and nutrition security. This report outlines opportunities to boost domestic production, resilience and nutrition security.

The Food Foundation
Research briefs
Solar panels can cool crops—and workers

A new model simulates the benefits of agrivoltaic farming, in which solar panels and crops share the same land.

Eos - AGU
Farmer applies pesticide on a banana field.
Research briefs
As temperatures get hotter, pesticides are more dangerous to farmworkers

Research shows heat amplifies the dangers of pesticides for farmworkers, and that the problem is poised to grow as the global climate warms.

Inside Climate News
Uploaded on