Drought Costing European Farming Industry Billions

Drought conditions in Europe will cost farmers billions of dollars in lost crops in the coming years. Agricultural and other officials are concerned that jobs will be lost and food prices will skyrocket across Europe.   

“Every day on the way from home to the fields I had to watch the sunflowers and corn curl up and shrink,” Thomas Goebel told The Guardian. He has been a farmer in Germany his whole life. “I had to drive with blinders on. I couldn’t look left or right.” 

Drought has cost Europe’s farmers $11.2 billion euros a year ($9.8 billion in US dollars) over the last few decades. That's according to a study this summer. Those numbers will likely grow as humans keep burning more fossil fuels.      

Yearly losses from drought in the EU, the UK, Norway, and Switzerland could rise to 13 billion euros ($11.3 billion) if global warming reaches 2 degrees Celsius (3.5 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. And that’s an optimistic forecast based on current government policies, experts say.  

Drought threatens the food production system, experts say. Adam Beer is a farmer in England. He told The Guardian that cabbage and cauliflower crops he planted in the spring were wiped out by July’s scorching heat. That’s even after he installed extra watering measures in the hopes of addressing what was forecast to be an extremely dry summer. 

Beer thought he might lose half of all his crops to the hot, dry weather. Nearly 95% was wiped out. “Your heart just drops,” he said. “It’s devastating.”      

Reflect: What experiences have you had with weather affecting plants or food around you?