NEW PROBLEMS ARISE FOR CROP STORAGE
Warming planet promotes faster spoilage
MECOSTA, Mich. — For generations, Brian Sackett’s family has farmed potatoes that are made into chips found on grocery shelves in much of the eastern U.S. About 25% of the nation’s potato chips get their start in Michigan, where reliably cool air during September harvest and late spring has been ideal for crop storage. That’s a big reason why the state produces more chipping potatoes than any other.
But with temperatures edging higher, “There’s a big disconnect in our minds Sackett had to buy several small refrigeration about the chain of events between the field units for his sprawling warehouses. Last and the grocery store and onto our plate,” year, he paid $125,000 for a bigger one. It’s she said. “Just a few degrees can make all expensive to operate, but beats having his the difference in whether it’s economical potatoes rot. to store the fruits and vegetables that we “Our good, fresh, cool air is getting less all expect to have on our dinner table 365 days the time, it seems like,” he said on a recent a year.” morning as a front-end loader scooped up Aside from potentially higher prices, climate piles of plump, light-brown potatoes that change may worsen food shortages would be packed into a tractor trailer for caused by spoilage. About 14% of food produced shipment to chip factories. globally — and 20% of fruits and The situation here illustrates a little-noticed vegetables — goes bad between harvest and hazard that climate change is posing retail, according to the United Nations Food for agriculture in much of the world. Once and Agriculture Organization. Wasted food harvested, crops not immediately consumed is a significant source of greenhouse gases. or processed are stored — sometimes for In Sub-Saharan Africa, small farmers lose months. The warming climate is making up to one-third of their stored grain to insects that job harder and costlier. and mold, which can produce toxins. Rising The annual period with outdoor air cool temperatures will make it easier for pests enough to store potatoes in Michigan’s to survive winters, said Tanya Strathers, an primary production area likely will associate professor with the University of shrink by up to 17 days by mid-century Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute in and up to a month by the late London.
2100s, according to an analysis by Julie Stored grain will be more susceptible to Winkler, a Michigan State University rotting, Strathers said. geography and climate scientist. “When people are getting production off The window for unrefrigerated storage just an acre or two of land, their margin for is also narrowing for apples in the error is very low,” said Jake Ricker-Gilbert, Northwest and Northeast, peanuts in the a Purdue University agricultural economist Southeast, lettuce in the Southwest and who has worked in several African nations tomatoes in the Ohio valley, according to including Malawi and Tanzania. follow-up research published last year by For delicate fruits and vegetables in the plant physiology scientist Courtney Leisner U.S. and Europe, a leading storage hurdle at Auburn University. comes immediately after harvest, when temperatures Techmark Inc., an agricultural engineering must be lowered quickly to avoid company based in Lansing, Michigan, decay. Lettuce and leafy greens such as designed the Sackett farm’s equipment. kale are especially vulnerable, said Deirdre Co-owner Todd Forbush, whose customers Holcroft, a plant biologist who worked previously also include growers of sugar beets, onions for Dole Food Co. Inc. and carrots, said storage of those crops Climate change is “going to add more and increasingly will need refrigeration. more pressure into the system,” Holcroft Growers will face tough choices about the said. economics of their operations. Producers In Mecosta, Michigan, the Sackett potato who install equipment to regulate temperature operation long needed only fans to cool and humidity will see power costs rising down freshly dug potatoes to 60 degrees or as the outside air gets hotter. lower, and keep them there for months.
“Whose pocket is it going to come out of? A computer-controlled system pulls in Probably the consumer,” Leisner said, adding outside air, which industrial-sized wall fans that the potential effects of global warming blow across a humidifying pad. Floor slats in on storage had been “largely ignored.”
“Just a few degrees can make all the difference in whether it’s economical to store the fruits and vegetables that we expect to have on our dinner table 365 days a year.” —Courtney Leisner
the 16 storage bins enable the air to rise through mounds of potatoes, regulating their temperature and moisture so they won’t dry out or get too wet and spoil.
But as the weather warms, it isn’t always enough.
During the 1990s, there were three years when Michigan’s average temperature in September and October was above normal. The 2000s had six such years. From 2010-2020, the total rose to eight.
Sackett began investing in small refrigeration units about a decade ago. The larger, custom-made device he got last year can be wheeled around to different bins, helping cool things down as needed.
“Definitely not a cheap purchase,” he said, adding that another may become necessary.
What all this means for the price of a bag of potato chip isn’t clear.