Food Rising coffee may be just the beginning – These casual foods may be expensive luxury in the future

More a food that seems everyday, such as a cup of coffee enjoyed in the morning or a banana snacked for a snack, may be a more limited luxury in the future.

The climate crisis and the loss of nature are affecting food production and it is unlikely to take long to see their effects.

The price of green coffee is doubled in the last yearas a result of which the price of a coffee package on store shelves is also about a third more expensive.

HS explained how the contents of our shopping bag may change in the future.

Particularly Researchers in the field have raised cocoa, coffee and bananas as vulnerable food products, says research professor Jyrki Niemi From the Natural Resources Center (Luke).

If you do not get cocoa, you will not get many coveted delicacies, ie chocolate.

According to Niemi, cocoa is a plant that is very sensitive to temperature fluctuations and has poor resistance to heat.

Cocoa production is concentrated in Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana, where almost half of the world’s cocoa is produced.

“It is feared that the effects of the climate crisis will soon be felt in cocoa production. With a couple of degrees of global warming, it is difficult to find suitable areas for cultivation anymore, ”says Niemi.

There are many human rights and environmental problems associated with cocoa production.

Much of the cocoa fields have been cleared into the rainforest, some into nature reserves and even national parks. According to Finnwatch, the authorities have estimated that as much as 40 percent of cocoa from Côte d’Ivoire has been grown illegally in nature reserves.

Read more: Chocolate giants promised to stop child labor, but the number is only growing – this is how the CEO of Fazer Confectionery explains the situation

At stake there may also be a daily sip of morning coffee. Rising average temperatures and changes in rainfall are reducing the area under coffee.

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As much as half of the world’s coffee-growing land could become unsuitable by 2050.

In addition, the mushroom Hemileia vastatrix, known as leaf rust, and the coffee-eating beetles that eat the berries have been estimated to become more common with the climate crisis.

As much as half of the world’s coffee-growing land could become unsuitable by 2050. This is predicted by a group funded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences.

Read more: The price of a coffee package is now rising at a rapid pace, and the sharp rise in prices may be just a foretaste

Coffee has therefore been predicted to be an even more expensive delicacy for fewer and fewer people.

“Coffee only starts to be harvested at the age of three, which means that if the plants are destroyed, it will take several years before it starts producing again,” says Luke’s research manager. Hanna-Maija Karikallio.

Also, the best tea growing areas in Kenya are projected to shrink by more than a quarter by 2050.

Of course, extreme weather events are already affecting production, Karikallio points out. The price of coffee has risen over the past year, but according to Karikallio and Niemi, it is still mainly due to the coronavirus pandemic and the logistical problems caused by coffee imports.

According to Karikallio, one solution for the future of coffee could be, for example, a coffee-flavored and odorous beverage made in the laboratory from a coffee cell, such as the Technology Research Center VTT has already developed.

World the banana, one of the most popular fruits, is challenged instead by its genetic one-sidedness. That means we only eat almost one variety of banana in the world.

Bananas sold in Finland are almost without exception a sweet and bright yellow Cavendish variety that is eaten all over the West. Now bananas are threatened with disaster when Cavendish is no longer able to protect itself from the latest variant of Panama’s disease.

Although bananas affected by fungal disease are edible to humans, the disease eventually causes banana plants to no longer bear fruit. It can destroy entire banana plantations in months.

In the wake of the fungal disease, the fields have been uncultivated for years.

About 40 years ago, the Panamanian disease destroyed the then dominant banana variety, Gros Michelin.

At the time, the banana disaster was overcome when producers switched to a new variety, the current Cavendish, which was known to be resistant to Panama’s disease.

Now, however, the disease has spread to America, where most of the world’s bananas are produced. A couple of years ago, Colombia declared a national emergency because of the disease, with the army fighting in Ecuador.

Read more: Farewell to the banana: The world’s most popular fruit is threatened with destruction

There are more than a thousand varieties of bananas in the world, of which only the Cavendish variety is suitable for large-scale exports. Its yields are plentiful and the taste pleasant. The fruit lasts even a long time without ripening too quickly.

The development of a new banana variety is difficult because all edible banana varieties are vulnerable to fungal diseases.

However, according to Niemi, genetic engineering can still save the banana situation.

“Researchers have reported that they have also succeeded in creating bananas that are immune to the disease,” Niemi says.

Also wine lovers have cause for concern.

The climate crisis has required wine-growers to adapt enormously. In addition to the shorter winter season, the harvest is very early due to the heat. There are also hail, severe storms and surprising night frosts even in the middle of a warm growing season.

In April 2021, the Provence region in the south of France experienced the coldest nights in 50 years, destroying a huge number of future crops.

Read more: Climate change threatens to ruin wines

According to Niemi, the grapes are delicate, they thrive at a certain temperature and even small changes can cause changes in the taste of the grapes.

“Even such pessimistic estimates have been made that some particular wine varieties may already be history by the middle of the century. At least it is no longer possible to achieve consistent quality. ”

Karakallio and Niemi also raise vanilla, which is grown in a small area in Africa, as well as peanut, which is quite challenging to grow. According to Niemi, the plant needs fairly even temperatures to succeed. Drought can cause the crop to dry out almost completely.

The popular ice cream brand Ben & Jerrys has also raised the issue, as peanut butter is an important part of some of the company’s ice cream flavors due to its smooth and soft texture.

“Rising prices threaten to turn peanut butter into a gentleman’s treat,” the company writes on its website.

Also a meal without insect-pollinated plants has a grim sound: the plant’s products on the plate would then end up mainly with cereals and potatoes.

It would lack most vegetables, fruits, berries, nuts and vegetable oils, says the expert Hanna Mattila from the Food Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry.

This, too, must be taken into account in the future, as the number and diversity of wild pollinators is known to have declined with the loss of nature, at least in Western Europe and North America.

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The apple crop can be completely lost without cross-pollination by insects.

The yields of Finnish crops such as rapeseed, oilseed rape, cowpea, cumin, buckwheat, tomato, fruit and berries depend on insect pollination.

A radical reduction in insect pollination would thus make all of these rarer treats.

For example, the apple crop can be completely lost without cross-pollination by insects. The strawberry is also capable of self-pollination, but on it the berries remain small and deformed.

The loss of pollinators is affected by, among other things, the loss and deterioration of the habitats favored by pollinators. In addition, the rarity of rich flowering meadows, natural pastures and open ditches has impoverished the supply of both food and nesting sites.

In Finland Precise information on changes in the populations of the most important pollinator species for food production is so far limited. However, 17 percent of beekeeping species have been assessed as endangered.

Accurate verification of the situation of pollinators requires a systematic, long-term follow-up study, which has been carried out in only a few countries. A couple of years ago, however, a national monitoring of bumblebees based on volunteer findings was launched in Finland.

According to Mattila, a national pollinator strategy is also being prepared and aims to secure the future of pollinators and the pollination service they provide. The strategy also aims to improve research and monitoring information on pollinators.

“It is difficult to transfer this work done by nature to people,” says Mattila.

In China’s Sichuan Province, it has already had to resort to it, as the abundant use of pesticides and the lack of uncultivated habitats have eradicated insect pollinators. People pollinate apple and pear flowers with brushes in large orchards.

One person with their brushes has time to pollinate the flowers of 5 to 10 fruit trees a day.

“At the same pace and at the Finnish wage level, the labor cost of pollinating an hectare of apple orchard would be about ten thousand euros,” says Mattila.

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“Already in 2050, everything will no longer be based on land and fields, but a significant part of food will be produced in the laboratory, it will be competitively priced and part of our everyday lives.”

Coming According to Nuke, Luke’s research professor, the changes are more broadly related to what is happening to world agriculture as the climate crisis progresses.

“One of the solutions we have in Finland is to start cultivating varieties and plants that have not yet been cultivated. But when that happens, the situation in a part of the world can already be really bad. ”

With the help of breeding, the aim is to find varieties that can survive even in changing weather conditions, and the adaptation of plants is also likely to materialize, Niemi reflects.

“Solutions are being sought and the fight against the climate crisis is on the agenda. However, the big question is whether enough will be done and whether the climate crisis will be tackled. ”

In addition to testing new varieties, more artificial raw materials are likely to be found on food plates in the future.

“Already in 2050, everything will no longer be based on land and fields, but a significant part of food will be produced in the laboratory, it will be competitively priced and part of our everyday lives.”