Climate, Crops, and Food Security

The number of people suffering from hunger began to increase in 2015, after decades of steady decline, and began to rise more sharply since the beginning of the COVID pandemic. The drivers of these trends in food security and malnutrition that are highlighted by international aid agencies are conflict, economic shocks, and climate extremes. In this course we will inquire, specifically, into linkages among climate change, extreme weather events, agricultural production, and food insecurity, and also consider the broader context of how conflict, socioeconomic, and health conditions may be susceptible to extreme weather and influence the ability to mitigate and adapt to changes in extreme weather. The answer to this inquiry is important: insomuch as climate change is a fundamental driver of recent decreases in food security, the almost inevitable continued changes in climate in the coming decades are of major concern for food security going forward. Moreover, identification of the specific pathways by which climate change influences food security is critical for devising appropriate mitigation and adaptation measures. We will cover how variations in temperature, water, and sunlight influence crop yield; how exposure to these environmental variations alters under climate change; connections between food production shocks and food insecurity; and the degree to which changes in food security can be predicted. Individual classes will be organized around academic papers encompassing distinct viewpoints, and through reading, discussion, and hearing from outside speakers. We will, as a class, seek some overall understanding of the drivers of food insecurity and how these can, at least in principle, be addressed.