Market News & Headlines >> USDA: Climate Change Likely to Hinder Progress on Global Food Security

Climate change is likely to impede progress on reducing undernourishment around the world in the decades ahead, according to a major scientific assessment released on Wednesday by USDA on global food security and its implications for the United States.

The report, entitled Climate Change, Global Food Security and the U.S. Food System, identifies the risks that climate change poses to global food security and the challenges facing farmers and consumers in adapting to changing climate conditions. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released the report during the COP-21 Paris Climate Conference.

"The report found that climate change is likely to cause disruptions in food production and a decrease in food safety, which in turn leads to local availability limitations and increases in food prices, with these risks greatest for the global poor and in tropical regions," said Dr. John Holdren, Assistant to the President or Science and Technology and Director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. "Accurately identifying needs and vulnerabilities, and effectively targeting adaptive practices and technologies across the full scope of the food system, are central to improving global food security in a changing climate."

The report represents a consensus of authors and contributors from 19 Federal, academic, nongovernmental, and intergovernmental organizations in four countries, identifying climate-change effects on global food security through 2100, and analyzing the United States’ likely connections with that issue.