Climate Change Is Coming for Your Favorite Condiments

The hurricanes, floods, droughts and wildfires linked to human-caused rises in global temperatures and changing weather patterns are decimating harvests of essential food crops around the world, driving a crisis in global hunger never before seen in the modern era. According to the World Health Organization, between 691 million and 783 million people faced hunger in 2022, an increase of 122 million people when compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.

No person or plant can emerge unscathed, says Dr. Guillermo Murray-Tortarolo, a researcher at Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. His work focuses on understanding the link between climate change and its impact on food production and human societies. As hotter and wetter conditions become more prevalent, so do the fungi, microbes and insects that thrive in those conditions. They can all increase a plant’s likelihood of disease. As well, changes in temperature make it harder for plants to photosynthesize, so crop yields are dropping.

But while “climate change is affecting absolutely everything,” says Murray-Tortarolo, “some sectors are more impacted than others.”

Dry and semi-arid ecosystems are seeing record biodiversity losses and challenges in the agricultural sector.

“The large increments in precipitation variability and seasonality have reduced the certainty of planting times and expected yields, with some extreme examples occurring the last couple of years, like with the red jalapeño for sriracha and Canadian mustard,” he says. That’s right, folks; climate change is not just taking down staple crops, it’s coming for your most beloved condiments.