Drought, Climate Change and Food Prices in Australia

John Quiggan.

Australia’s climate has always been variable and, in particular, prone to drought. Droughts seriously affect agricultural yields and can contribute to spikes in retail food prices. 

The current drought has been associated with particularly broad and sustained increases in prices.

Over coming decades, the global frequency and severity of drought is likely to increase as a result of climate change. Regional projections suggest that south-eastern Australia will be adversely a ected by changes in rainfall patterns, as well as by rising temperatures, which increase the severity of drought. By 2070 there may be 40% more months of drought in eastern Australia, and conditions will be worse in a high-emissions scenario.

 e current drought may represent the beginning of this process. Higher average temperatures, due in part to human-caused climate change, have certainly exacerbated its impact . Other changes, such as increases in the severity of storms, will also have adverse e ects.  e result for Australian consumers will be rises in average food prices and in the frequency and severity of price spikes. For foods such as fresh fruit and vegetables that are supplied mainly by local producers, price shocks similar to those being experienced by Australian consumers during the current severe drought may start to occur every two to four years, rather than once a decade, unless strong action is taken to reduce global emissions.

Read this Australian Conservation Foundation report by a Australian Research Council Federation Fellow with the School of Economics and School of Political Science and International Studies University of Queensland, John Quiggan - “Drought, Climate Change and Food Prices in Australia.”