Tomato-gate? We ain’t seen nothing yet!

A hotter world will disrupt our food supplies. What can we learn from tomato-gate?

Scarcities and shortages will occur with increasing severity and frequency. Yes, even here in the UK.

We were lucky they happened over two years, rather than one, or over a few months during winter and early spring. (1)

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Unless and until we face the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune, nightmarish though they might be, we cannot plan.

We need to plan for the worst, hope for the best.

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The next few blogposts illuminate a perspective on UK food security through a series of maps:

1. Latitude: The effect of the Gulf Stream on us
2. Turning the map: Our food supply trading relationships

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(1) This table shows the challenges to the UK of provisioning sufficient supplies of fresh produce during the hungry months from domestic production, without substantial investment in micro-climate and storage technologies:

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see also:

• Should the UK food supply system be put on a ‘war footing’? Yes, and here’s why.
  • And this post: Eight ways in which the UK food supply system could be on a ‘war footing’
• Climate breakdown tipping points
• Tropical storms, volcanoes, earthquakes and tsunamis
• The comments by Baroness Brown, Chair of the Adaptation Committee of the CCC about the lack of leadership regarding adaptative action on climate change.
• Regarding adaptation, see also this recent Guardian editorial about the Dutch farmer protests.