Cool Nights Needed to Grow Potatoes Slipping Away

Draft script:

Potatoes are a staple food crop for humans in many locations. They provide necessary starch, as do staple crops such as rice, wheat, beans, and corn. Potatoes have been relatively easy to grow, especially in cool environments. When I was growing up in northern Idaho, we grew potatoes in our garden, even though we learned by doing when it came to growing food. Idaho still has the Famous Potatoes slogan on its license plates.

From The Cooldown on 29 October 2024 comes this headline: Farmers sound the alarm for our global food supply as staple crop becomes increasingly difficult to grow: ‘The crop is sensitive.’ The subhead is “The failure of Pennsylvania’s potato crops is one example of the changes threatening our food supplies.”

Here’s the first paragraph: “All around the world, the overheating of our planet means that farmers are struggling to grow crops that have long thrived in their regions. Among those crops is the humble potato, which is becoming significantly more difficult to grow in the United States’ largest potato chip-producing state of Pennsylvania, Marketplace reported.”

A subsection titled What’s happening? includes four paragraphs that provide all we need to know. They include the following information: “Potatoes need cool nights in order to grow, and during much of the year in Pennsylvania, those nights are becoming few and far between.”

An agronomist with the Pennsylvania Co-Operative Potato Growers, explained. “The crop is sensitive to weather conditions.” The agronomist estimated that in the 1980s, there were 35 nights per year that were too hot for the potato crops. Now, it's closer to 50 nights per year.

“As a result, Pennsylvania farmers have struggled to produce enough potatoes to fuel the state’s chip makers with locally sourced ingredients. This, in turn, means that potato chip companies have to source potatoes from out of state, driving more transportation costs and even more planet-overheating air pollution from shipping.

In addition to the effects on our climate, this means more expensive products for consumers. The average cost of a 16-ounce bag of chips has risen from under $4.50 to around $6.50 over the last decade, per the Bureau of Labor Statistics.”

Under a subsection titled Why are crop failures important?, we find the buried lede: “The failure of Pennsylvania’s potato crops is one example of how the changes to weather patterns fueled by the overheating of our planet are threatening our food supplies. It is not the only example.”

Please take note: “It is not the only example.” An overheated Earth cannot provide the food we have come to expect. The ongoing changes are simply too much, too fast.

The subsection continues: “Droughts have devastated rice, corn, and mugwort crops in China and corn crops in Colombia, while beekeepers in Mexico are also struggling alongside many other farmers all over the globe.

In addition to droughts, the opposite end of the spectrum of extreme weather — flooding — has also caused massive problems for food growers. In the 1980s, there were 35 nights per year that were too hot for the potato crops. Now, it's closer to 50 nights per year.”

As pointed out by the article in The Cooldown, these are not the only examples. Food crops for human animals are increasingly difficult to grow because Earth is amid abrupt, irreversible climate change. Even the designed-to-fail Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change admitted as much with two reports published more than six years ago.

The Cooldown states the take-home message repeatedly: “The failure of Pennsylvania’s potato crops is one example of the changes threatening our food supplies.” “All around the world, the overheating of our planet means that farmers are struggling to grow crops that have long thrived in their regions.” “The failure of Pennsylvania’s potato crops is one example of how the changes to weather patterns fueled by the overheating of our planet are threatening our food supplies. It is not the only example.” “Droughts have devastated rice, corn, and mugwort crops in China and corn crops in Colombia, while beekeepers in Mexico are also struggling alongside many other farmers all over the globe.” “Flooding … has also caused massive problems for food growers. In the 1980s, there were 35 nights per year that were too hot for the potato crops. Now, it's closer to 50 nights per year.”

Like me, you are probably not surprised that cooler temperatures are slipping away, especially at night. The urban heat-island effect ensures as much. Our warming planet will continue to warm, thereby guaranteeing reduced ability to grow food crops and reduced habitat for all life on Earth.

When I created an off-grid homestead in rural New Mexico, I wanted to provide some insurance against my inability to grow food. I stored considerable food in a buried, 40-foot cargo container. After a couple of years, I checked on a few items of processed food, including potato chips. As it turns out, those expiration dates are serious. The potato chips were stale to the point of non-consumption. No potato chips for me, except at the grocery store 40 miles away.