LETTER: Holiday foods are indeed at risk because of global warming

xYour Dec. 23 editorial, “Climate change Grinches look to ruin the holidays,” dismissed climate risks to holiday foods, relying on a misleading argument: that because global production of crops such as cocoa, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon has increased over recent decades, climate change therefore poses no real threat. That conclusion does not follow from the data.

Yes, United Nations FAO statistics show that production of many agricultural commodities has grown over the past 30–35 years. But those increases largely reflect expanded acreage, improved farming techniques and rising global demand — not immunity from climate stress. Production totals can rise even while growing conditions become more difficult, riskier and more expensive for farmers. Both can be true at the same time.

The more relevant question is not whether store shelves are empty today, but whether climate conditions are making it harder to grow these crops reliably over time. On that point, the evidence is strong. Higher temperatures, more frequent extreme heat days, shifting rainfall patterns and increased pest pressure are already stressing agriculture worldwide. These impacts are often masked in aggregate statistics until critical thresholds are crossed.

American farmers are already responding. In drought-prone regions, growers have reduced or abandoned water-intensive crops, shifted planting dates, adopted more drought-tolerant varieties or diversified into alternative crops. In California, water shortages have forced some farmers to leave fields unplanted altogether. In the Midwest and Plains, heat and precipitation volatility are influencing both crop choice and management decisions. These are real-world adaptations, not speculative models.

It is also worth noting that the opinion relies heavily on claims from a single advocacy website with a clear ideological agenda, rather than peer-reviewed research or mainstream agricultural science. Climate denial may be a preferred position in some circles, but physics, biology, and weather patterns are not obliged to cooperate. Facts have an inconvenient habit of asserting themselves, sometimes painfully, regardless of ideology.