{"id":13662,"date":"2020-07-14T11:31:35","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:31:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/calcanstaging.kinsta.cloud\/?p=13662"},"modified":"2020-07-14T11:36:59","modified_gmt":"2020-07-14T18:36:59","slug":"the-economic-impacts-of-the-climate-crisis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/calclimateag.org\/es\/the-economic-impacts-of-the-climate-crisis\/","title":{"rendered":"The Economic Impacts of the Climate Crisis"},"content":{"rendered":"

The unprecedented financial impacts of COVID-19 on farmers and ranchers, now officially deemed essential, have brought long-term farm viability into sharp focus and have received a lot of attention in the media. A recent study<\/a> found that pandemic-related losses in California agriculture are estimated to total $2 billion to date.While not as widely covered, the climate crisis also has economic impacts on growers. For example, the 2013-2016 drought exacerbated by climate change led to a $1.84 billion economic loss and 21,000 job loss for the state\u2019s agriculture economy.<\/p>\n

Climate change\u2019s economic impact on California agriculture \u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is a wide range of climate impacts on agriculture that can lead to financial hardship for growers caused by yield losses, decreased efficiency and increased costs. Chief among these is constrained water resources and unpredictable precipitation patterns which will be among the most challenging effects of climate change for agriculture in California. Scientists predict even greater variability ahead, as well as increased intensity and frequency of extreme weather events. Water scarcity impacts the bottom line by sometimes causing land fallowing, yield drops and failures, and increased costs for buying, pumping and delivering water.<\/p>\n

Warming temperatures affect agriculture in many ways, starting with the people who grow and harvest our food. Extreme heat worsened by climate change has surpassed pesticide exposure<\/a> to become the current primary concern facing agricultural workers in California. \"\"<\/a>This extreme heat during peak harvest time threatens productivity, often at the expense of farmworker health<\/a>. Chill hours \u2013 a crucial part of the life cycle of many fruit and nut trees \u2013 are increasingly shortened by warming trends and can lead to lower yields<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Exacerbated by trends towards warmer temperatures and earlier snowmelt, today\u2019s fire season in the western U.S. starts earlier, lasts longer, and is more intense compared to the last several decades. Fire and smoke damage has cost some California farmers<\/a> dearly during the state\u2019s last few historically damaging fire seasons.<\/p>\n

More impacts and details can be found in CalCAN\u2019s publication titled \u201cCultivating Climate Resilience in Farming<\/a>: Ensuring California Farms and Ranches Thrive in the Face of Climate Change<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adaptation strategies on farm and ranches.\"\"<\/a> <\/strong><\/h2>\n

We have known solutions to many of the challenges the climate crisis poses. Another CalCAN report, \u201cClimate Change Solutions in California Agriculture<\/a>\u201d details many of the way agriculture can meet the climate crisis with strategies that both curb greenhouse gas emissions and increase on-farm resilience to climate impacts.<\/p>\n

Farmers and ranchers are employing a number of on-farm strategies to improve resilience to the myriad impacts of a warming climate, including these:<\/p>\n