How the Climate Crisis Could Ruin America’s Favorite Holiday Foods
Turkey
- Top producing state: Minnesota
- Top export market: Mexico
- Value of US exports: $509.9 million
Just like other animals, including humans, rising temperatures can cause stress in turkeys and impact their health. Changes in precipitation patterns may affect the availability of feed and water, impacting turkey farms. In 2015, growers lost more than 9 million turkeys on over 100 farms just in Minnesota – the nation’s largest turkey producer. It isn’t a complete accident Minnesota is the nation’s largest turkey producer. It is due in part to the state’s relatively favorable climate conditions. The loss in 2015 was driven by unusual warmth and historic drought conditions across the country, which disrupted weather patterns turkey farmers had come to rely on.
Pests and diseases may become more prevalent with shifting climate conditions, and turkeys and the poultry industry are already vulnerable to avian disease outbreaks. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) only just lifted on Nov 10 of this year Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza-related (HPAI) restrictions in seven U.S. states. The restrictions had been in place since January 2015.
Even as business becomes more risky, the poultry industry is not shrinking. According to statistics on the poultry sector from the USDA, the turkey sector generated $7.1 billion in 2022 – exceptionally high compared with annual data going back to 2013.
Sweet Potatoes
- Top producing state: North Carolina
- Top export market: European Union
- Value of US exports: $164.5 million
Extreme weather events, like floods or droughts, can damage crops and reduce overall production, including that of sweet potatoes – a nutritious staple in many holiday dishes.
While increased temperatures and changing precipitation patterns can also affect the growth and yield of sweet potatoes, the root vegetable is uniquely resilient to certain climate change impacts. For instance, while low temperatures have been found to inhibit nutrient uptake and development of sweet potatoes, warmer temperatures tend to improve crop sizes as well as foster greater disease vulnerability.
In a study in the National Library of Medicine this June, researchers published their assessment of climate change’s impacts on sweet potato production. There are hopes the vegetable can be used as a food-based approach to address malnutrition in the Afar region – a region in Ethiopia where climate change and drought have severely limited crop production.
Almonds
- Top producing state: California
- Top export market: China
- Value of US exports: $1.2 billion
As is the case for many specialty crops – fruits and vegetables, tree nuts, dried fruits, and horticulture and nursery crops – almond trees require a very particular chill temperature for a certain duration of time in the winter for proper flowering. Such crops are typically perennial, meaning bad seasons with die offs are not so easily remedied by replanting in the next year. For almonds to develop they must be pollinated by the also-endangered honeybees, pointing to the complex web of connections necessary for these foods to be successfully grown at scale.
Changes in climate could and has disrupted this fine balance. Almond trees, particularly during growth stages, are vulnerable to disruptions to their water supply – a relatively more common occurrence under the climate crisis across huge sections of the United States.
With harmful periods of drought and water shortages becoming more likely across California in recent decades, some have criticized the almond industry in the state. The water demands of California’s almond industry are roughly equal to the total indoor water use across the state, which is unsustainable – according to California water resource advocacy non-profit The California Water Impact Network.
