Farmers sound the alarm for our global food supply as staple crop becomes increasingly difficult to grow: 'The crop is sensitive'

All around the world, the overheating of our planet means that farmers are struggling to grow crops that have long thrived in their regions. Among those crops is the humble potato, which is becoming significantly more difficult to grow in the United States' largest potato chip-producing state of Pennsylvania, Marketplace reported.

What's happening?

Potatoes need cool nights in order to grow, and during much of the year in Pennsylvania, those nights are becoming few and far between.

"The crop is sensitive to weather conditions," Bob Leiby, an agronomist with the Pennsylvania Co-Operative Potato Growers, explained. He estimated that in the 1980s, there were 35 nights per year that were too hot for the potato crops. Now, it's closer to 50 nights per year.

As a result, Pennsylvania farmers have struggled to produce enough potatoes to fuel the state's chip makers with locally sourced ingredients. This, in turn, means that potato chip companies have to source potatoes from out of state, driving more transportation costs and even more planet-overheating air pollution from shipping.

In addition to the effects on our climate, this means more expensive products for consumers. The average cost of a 16-ounce bag of chips has risen from under $4.50 to around $6.50 over the last decade, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Why are crop failures important?

The failure of Pennsylvania's potato crops is one example of how the changes to weather patterns fueled by the overheating of our planet are threatening our food supplies. It is not the only example.

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Droughts have devastated rice, corn, and mugwort crops in China and corn crops in Colombia, while beekeepers in Mexico are also struggling alongside many other farmers all over the globe.

In addition to droughts, the opposite end of the spectrum of extreme weather — flooding — has also caused massive problems for food growers.

What's being done about crop failures?

Scientists are hard at work gene-editing different types of plants in an attempt to make them hardier and easier to grow in extreme weather conditions, such as heat and dryness.

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However, while this approach may have important results — bringing food to people who need it — the problems that farmers are facing are only going to get worse if the overheating of our planet continues unabated. In order to truly address the problem, the most crucial thing that our society needs to do is switch from air pollution-producing dirty energy sources like gas and oil to clean, renewable sources like wind and solar.

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