Climate Change Threatens Food Security—Can Data Be The Real Hero?

2025 is here, and to no one’s surprise, climate change continues to worsen with few signs of progress on the horizon. The effects are more apparent than ever, with rising temperatures and extreme weather events becoming more frequent and intense each year.

The devastating flooding in Valencia and its surrounding areas is a prime example. While the immediate damage is difficult to quantify, some farmers predict that crops in the area have sustained 100% damage, expanding its impact far beyond Spain, one of Europe’s largest fruit and vegetable exporters.

Growers are witnessing unpredictable and unprecedented weather patterns, from prolonged droughts to unexpected rainfall, making it challenging to plan and manage crop cycles.

While you don't need a climatologist to see the direction agriculture is heading, there are still ways to stay ahead of the climate crisis curve. Today’s data offers critical insights to help growers adapt, guide decision making, improve resilience and mitigate risks as conditions change.

Without it, frankly, growers will be left defenseless for the challenges that lie ahead.

How We Got Here

As we experience abnormal climate shifts, pest and disease ranges have expanded, thriving in new and increasingly volatile conditions.

Diseases such as wheat blast in Asia, which is projected to reduce global wheat production by 13% until 2050, potato blight in Europe, and rugose virus in Australia have all infiltrated new regions due to warmer temperatures and fluctuating humidity. Meanwhile, more frequent flooding and drought cycles have led to crop failures that experts likely wouldn’t have anticipated just a decade ago.

The shifts have also impacted soil health, further exposing crops to vulnerabilities that traditional remedies can no longer address. And the situation has only intensified because of the lack of preparedness to tackle these emerging threats.

Expanding diseases and pests have left growers searching for solutions for these imminent crises. As global temperatures rise, pests like the fall armyworm, widely known for damaging crops like corn, are advancing northward, causing severe damage in areas from Texas to the Midwest, where these threats were previously unheard of. Meanwhile, a study from NASA suggests maize crop yields could be down by 24% by 2030 due to climate change.

These changes have strained farmers financially, with increased costs for everything from pest control to disease management and crop loss. It also contributes to the growing food demand, as reduced yields and supply distributions drive up prices and create regional shortages.

These events have put a magnifying glass on vulnerabilities in global food production and supplies as a result of climate change, highlighting the urgent need for adaptive agricultural strategies.

Using Data To Map For An Uncertain Future

Historically, growers have relied on weather patterns, crop yields and pest cycles to make operational and strategic decisions. These long-standing patterns, however, are increasingly unreliable as extreme weather events, once considered anomalies, are becoming more frequent and intense.

With old systems no longer effective, growers are left scrambling to respond to issues they have never faced.

This is where AI and data analytics can become a critical lifeline. By analyzing vast amounts of real-time data—ranging from weather forecasts to soil conditions and pest behaviors—tech offers unprecedented potential to reduce climate change impacts and promote sustainable farming practices, especially when it comes to food production.

AI-powered, round-the-clock crop monitoring allows farmers to address issues before they escalate, shifting the focus from reactive to proactive management. Leveraging data helps growers better understand the impacts of climate change on their fields and develop strategies to improve crop resilience in affected areas.

Despite these advancements, climate data can still be difficult to access, interpret and integrate into a grower's day-to-day operations. To fully harness the power of AI and data, technologies are needed that can transform information into insights farmers can act on without completely upending their existing farming practices.

As climate change accelerates, knowledge-sharing among growers has become more important than ever. Collaborative networks and digital platforms are becoming vital for survival, allowing growers to exchange real-time information and build a shared reservoir of knowledge, enhancing resilience to current and future challenges.

While the window to fully reverse its effects has closed, there are significant opportunities for new practices to mitigate its impact. By staying informed, flexible and proactive, agricultural communities can better navigate the increasingly unpredictable conditions ahead, ensuring that food production remains sustainable not just in 2025 but for many years to come.