Climate change will make food more expensive

Grain.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

Climate change will lead to reduced food production and increased food prices according to a new report from the Development Fund and ‘Ruralis’.

 

The report, quoted by Nationen newspaper, stated that it is likely that the total production of food in the world will be reduced due to increased temperature.

It was also established that prices on the world market are likely to increase and that it will be more expensive to import food to Norway. In addition to price increases on, for example, meat, animal feed will also increase in price.The conclusion was that despite a well-developed infrastructure and large resources for conversion and adaptation, Norway is vulnerable to climate change.

The report operates with a scenario where the temperature rises between 1.7 to 6.4 degrees on average. By comparison,the Paris agreement aimed at temperature not increasing by more than 2 degrees.

However, increased temperatures can give some isolated,beneficial consequences for food production in Norway.For example, warmer winters could lead to less frost damage, a longer grazing season, and increased numbers of cattle. In addition, agricultural areas could increase.

A temperature increase will also cause the number of days of heavy rain to increase between 49 and 89%, and the amount of rain will increase between 12 and 19% according to the report.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today