UN Report Warns Extreme Heat Is Pushing Global Food Production to the Brink

Overview

• The FAO–WMO joint assessment, released Wednesday, says recurring heat extremes now endanger the health and livelihoods of over one billion people who depend on farming, fishing and forestry.
• The report finds crop productivity falls once daily heat tops about 30°C and estimates each 1°C of global warming trims yields of corn, rice, soy and wheat by roughly 6%.
• At sea, marine heatwaves touched 91% of the ocean in 2024, lowering dissolved oxygen and driving sharp drops in fish populations and fisheries.
• Heat is already stripping about 500 billion farm work hours a year and, in the hottest regions, can make outdoor field work unsafe for as many as 250 days; livestock also suffer, with dairy output falling and pigs and chickens facing organ failure.
• A Brazil case study cites nearly 15 million tonnes of soy lost in one season, widespread heat stress across herds, and 2024 floods in Rio Grande do Sul that killed 183 people and wiped out harvests.