2015 Conference

Full Presentation Panel

Difficult-to-predict shocks or disturbances could disrupt food production or distribution severely enough to set in motion a breakdown of food supply. The risk of serious shortfalls, whether on a local or larger scale, shorter or longer period, is of genuine concern. Cities are particularly vulnerable. It’s difficult to get a clear grip on this topic because the food system is so complex, and failure could take forms never seen before, but the stakes are high. A collection of articles in JESS is framing this issue to clarify what environmental scientists and teachers can do through research, education, or community action to contribute to a more resilient food system. This session will focus on:
•    What are vulnerabilities in the food system due to climate change?
•    What are leverage points for reducing the risks?

Gerry Marten, An overview of the JESS special issue on American food resilience

The JESS special issue on American Food Resilience is about food system vulnerability to shocks that lead to serious disruption in food supply.  For example, drought in Australia – in combination with diversion of U.S. corn production to ethanol, an increase in the international oil price, and the 2008 mortgage crisis and ensuing recession – set in motion a chain of effects in international food markets that doubled the price of basic food commodities within a year and led to food riots in 65 nations. This presentation will review significant sources of risk and explain how the special issue on American Food Resilience explores ways to improve food system reliability in the face of such risks – setting the scene for examining the implications of climate change from this perspective.

Laura Lengnick, The vulnerability of the U.S. food system to climate change

The climate change vulnerability of a system is a function of exposure to specific climate effects, sensitivity to those effects, and the capacity to adapt to those effects in order to maintain system integrity. The widely-recognized environmental, social, and economic harms of the U.S. industrial food system contribute to global warming and degrade the adaptive capacity of the nation. According to Dr. Lengnick’s recent book “Resilient Agriculture: Cultivating Food Systems for a Changing Climate,” the geographic concentration and specialization of agricultural production in the U.S. increases food system vulnerability to climate change effects, as does our dependence on imports of fruits, vegetables and seafood to augment domestic food supplies. The interactions between food production geography and regional climate change effects create unprecedented challenges to agriculture, particularly in Pacific Coast, Midwest and southern states where much of the U.S food supply is produced. Farmers and ranchers report that more variable weather, more frequent and intense drought and flooding, longer seasons, increased competition for water supplies, and novel pest management challenges are increasing the costs and complexity of food production throughout the country. The cost of federal agricultural support for industrial agriculture, including federally-subsidized insurance and disaster programs, is on the rise and is projected to increase in cost and importance as a climate risk management tool in coming years. The U.S. industrial food system’s overemphasis on investments in technology, efficiency, and recovery reserves at the expense of natural, human, and social response capacity presents significant barriers to effective climate change adaptation.

Dan Keppen, The 2014 drought and water management policy impacts on California's Central Valley food production

California’s Central Valley is responsible for approximately 30% of the nation’s fruit and vegetable production. In 2014 California experienced one of its worst droughts in 160 years of record keeping. Early in the year, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced an initial zero water allocation for Central Valley Project irrigation service contractors. The impact on food producers was devastating. Many farmers fallowed their fields because there was not enough water to meet their needs. Many crops were not grown in the same quantities normally seen in California, and citrus and nut-tree groves (e.g. almonds) were ripped out. Why did this disaster happen? From the perspective of someone who works for farm communities directly impacted by such a breakdown, this presentation will identify the primary lines of water-related risk in the Central Valley food system, describe what is being done to try to reduce the risks, and offer ideas for further reducing the risks and improving the capacity to cope with breakdowns. 

Michelle Miller, The power of story for adaptive response: Marshaling individual and collective initiative to create more resilient and sustainable food systems