08/16/2024

How Climate Disasters Are Making Food Expensive Everywhere

It appears no matter where you go, you're paying more for what you eat

In today's climate-changing world, climate events thousands of miles away drive the cost of everything around us—from a flight ticket to a new piece of clothing to the market price of a meal at your favorite restaurant. 

Take olive oil and chocolate as examples. Severe droughts in the Mediterranean have slashed Spain's olive harvest by 40 percent, driving up prices by 27 percent in June compared to last year for American consumers. Similarly, the price of some chocolates, such as Cadbury’s Freddo, are already higher by 200 percent this year in Australia with similar price rise expected in the U.S markets, driven mostly by the extreme weather impacting small-holder cocoa farmers in Ghana and Ivory Coast.

Such climate disasters in wheat producing countries such as Argentina also impact essential food products such as breakfast cereal, pasta, and bread. The price of wheat—and wheat-based food products—has experienced some of its greatest volatility in years since 2021. Why? Wheat production in Argentina was hit by drought in 2021and then in 2023, panicking global wheat supply chains already stressed by the Russia-Ukraine crisis. Food companies reacted to this volatility by preemptively increasing consumer prices.

Please select this link to read the complete article from TIME.