Essay by Eric Worrall
Except for Potatoes grown by farmers who know how to farm?
Accelerating Global Warming Could Reshape the Future of Global Potato Production
August 05, 2026 Source PotatoPro
Global warming is no longer just increasing it is speeding up. A new climate study suggests the Earth’s temperature has been rising faster since around 2015, raising fresh concerns for agriculture, including potato production, processing, and global supply chains.
Researchers at the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK), whose findings were published in Geophysical Research Letters, analyzed global temperature records after removing the effects of natural climate influences such as El Niño, volcanic eruptions, and changes in solar activity. They found that the Earth’s long-term warming rate has increased to around 0.35°C per decade over the past ten years, compared with just under 0.2°C per decade between 1970 and 2015. The trend was consistent across five independent global temperature datasets, with more than 98% statistical confidence, providing the strongest evidence to date that global warming itself is accelerating.
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Scientists have long projected that suitable potato-growing regions will gradually move toward higher latitudes and elevations as the climate warms. At the same time, many traditional potato- producing areas are expected to experience more frequent heat stress, forcing growers to adapt their production practices.
Hotter Weather Could Reduce Processing QualityClimate change presents challenges that go beyond lower yields.
Heat and drought stress can change how potato tubers develop and store carbohydrates. Under stressful growing conditions, some potato varieties accumulate higher levels of reducing sugars, which can produce darker fries and potato chips during frying through the Maillard reaction.
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Read more: https://www.potatopro.com/news/2026/accelerating-global-warming-could-reshape-future-global-potato-production
This kind of climate alarmist shooting from the hip by organisations which claim expertise is just sad.
Five minutes research would have revealed there are plenty of places where high quality potatoes are grown in hot climates, like Bundaberg in Australia (25º south).
The way Bundaberg farmers grow cold weather varieties is by practicing extreme early planting. Potatoes are sown in Fall, thrive in Bundaberg’s mild 60F winter, then mature in Spring. The potatoes are harvested before the summer heat kills them.
Somewhere between Bundaberg’s practice of planting in Fall and the sowing time in your area is a sowing time which could compensate for any plausible amount of global warming.
Potatoes are not in danger. Let’s hope the “experts” at Potatopro take this opportunity to educate themselves before embarrassing themselves by writing more ignorant climate articles.
