In a Hotter and Drier World, How Can Food and Farming Systems Adapt?

Here’s a question: Over the past 40 years, what natural disaster has affected more people around the globe than any other?

The answer, according the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is drought.

The past 10 years have been the hottest 10 years on record, and higher temperatures and drier conditions are making more regions vulnerable to drought and arid land degradation, or desertification. This process is “a silent, invisible crisis that is destabilizing communities on a global scale,” according to the U.N. Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

Globally, the nearly 2 billion people who live in dryland areas are often the first to face hunger, thirst, and the devastating effects of poor soil and environmental decline, says Dr. ML Jat, the Director of Resilient Farm and Food Systems at the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT). And the next generations will feel the effects: UNICEF predicts that, by 2040, one in four children will live in areas of extremely high water stress.

But there is a path toward a better future—there are farming and food-system solutions that allow us to nourish communities in hotter, drier climates.

Indigenous crops, for example, are naturally adapted to the extreme weather in desert regions and can strengthen food security, community health, and local ecosystems. I’ve long admired the work of organizations like Native Seeds/SEARCH, which conserves seeds so they can continue to benefit the peoples in the Southwest and Mexico, and the Arizona Alliance for Climate-Smart Crops, which supports farmers in adopting climate-smart crops and practices that conserve water.

“Wild desert plants have a remarkable number of adaptations to cope with heat, drought, unpredictable rainfall, and poor soils—the sorts of stressful growing conditions we are already seeing and expect to see more of in the future,” Dr. Erin Riordan of the University of Arizona told Food Tank.

And at the same time, there are innovative solutions we can elevate to restore degraded landscapes and combat further desertification! The U.N. Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is supporting several amazing projects in Africa, including the Great Green Wall Initiative, which works across 22 countries to revitalize fertile land and transform lives. And in Somalia, the U.N. Development Programme is partnering with local leaders to construct reservoirs and dams to improve water access and address deforestation and desertification.

We can’t solve these challenges alone. A fascinating new ICRISAT report looks at the power of microbes to boost crop yields and restore soil health in dryland farming systems. These microbes could include bacteria that improve nitrogen-fixation, which can improve soil fertility, and other microorganisms that can control diseases and crop pests.

And we need a whole-of-society approach to combating desertification—especially in parts of the world that have not traditionally struggled with arid landscapes and water scarcity, because, as we know, natural disasters like drought are affecting more and more people as the climate crisis deepens.

As he always does, author and agro-ecologist Gary Paul Nabhan writes powerfully about what all of us across the entire food system must do to prioritize Indigenous crops and adapt to changing environments.

“If farmers shift what crops they grow, they will need consumers, cooks, and chefs to adapt what they are willing to prepare and eat in the new normal,” he wrote in a great op-ed for us at Food Tank. “It is time to turn the corner from corn and soy monocultures to the sesames, prickly pear cactus, garbanzos, millets, and mulberries of the world that desert dwellers have eaten in delicious dishes for millennia.”

How are food and agriculture system leaders in your community working to protect land from becoming degraded? I love hearing stories of creative solutions, like the ones I’ve highlighted here, so please say hello at [email protected] and tell me about the microbes, Indigenous crops, and land management techniques that will help us nourish our neighbors and adapt our food systems in hotter, drier climates.

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Photo courtesy of Zion National Park Service