Dramatic shifts are already happening:
Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2025 9:23 am
There’s now coffee from California, and fine wines from England.
But while warmer temperatures may benefit some crops, they can devastate others.
In Georgia, the state’s famed peach trees require significant winter chill in order to bloom come spring. Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist at the University of Georgia, said winters in the state have warmed on average more than three-and-a-half degrees since the 1800s, enough to put many varieties of peaches at risk.
weather-station.jpg
University of Georgia agricultural climatologist Pam Knox shows correspondent Ben Tracy one of 89 weather stations in the state.
Researchers are racing to develop new warmer weather varieties to take their place.
Tracy asked, “As warming continues, should we expect crops to buy phone number list kind of migrate north in some fashion, things that needed to be further south in the past?”
“There will be some migration,” Knox replied. “There’s some limitations to that: The kind of soil you have, whether you have access to irrigation, what you’ve grown traditionally. Because if you’re a peach producer, you’re probably not gonna suddenly switch to cattle.”
Joe Franklin’s citrus bet is paying off, but he knows a changing climate likely means more losers than winners.
Tracy asked, “For this to be working here means it’s probably not working so well for somebody further south?”
“I do. And I feel for ’em,” Franklin said. “And it’s a gamble. It’s a risk you take, you know? It’s one of them things.”
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth and Sara Kugel. Editor: Mike Levine.
Check out the “Sunday Morning” 2022 Food Issue Recipe Index for more menu suggestions, from all of the chefs, cookbook authors, flood writers and restaurateurs featured on our program.
But while warmer temperatures may benefit some crops, they can devastate others.
In Georgia, the state’s famed peach trees require significant winter chill in order to bloom come spring. Pam Knox, an agricultural climatologist at the University of Georgia, said winters in the state have warmed on average more than three-and-a-half degrees since the 1800s, enough to put many varieties of peaches at risk.
weather-station.jpg
University of Georgia agricultural climatologist Pam Knox shows correspondent Ben Tracy one of 89 weather stations in the state.
Researchers are racing to develop new warmer weather varieties to take their place.
Tracy asked, “As warming continues, should we expect crops to buy phone number list kind of migrate north in some fashion, things that needed to be further south in the past?”
“There will be some migration,” Knox replied. “There’s some limitations to that: The kind of soil you have, whether you have access to irrigation, what you’ve grown traditionally. Because if you’re a peach producer, you’re probably not gonna suddenly switch to cattle.”
Joe Franklin’s citrus bet is paying off, but he knows a changing climate likely means more losers than winners.
Tracy asked, “For this to be working here means it’s probably not working so well for somebody further south?”
“I do. And I feel for ’em,” Franklin said. “And it’s a gamble. It’s a risk you take, you know? It’s one of them things.”
Story produced by Mark Hudspeth and Sara Kugel. Editor: Mike Levine.
Check out the “Sunday Morning” 2022 Food Issue Recipe Index for more menu suggestions, from all of the chefs, cookbook authors, flood writers and restaurateurs featured on our program.