The joint report by the Meals and Agriculture Group (FAO) and the World Meteorological Group (WMO) finds that excessive warmth is already inflicting half a trillion work hours to be misplaced every year, with impacts set to accentuate as temperatures rise.
“Excessive warmth is more and more defining the circumstances beneath which agrifood programs function,” mentioned WMO Secretary-Common Celeste Saulo, warning that it acts “as a compounding danger issue that magnifies present weaknesses throughout agricultural programs.”
The report highlights how heatwaves – extended durations of unusually excessive day and evening temperatures – are affecting crops, livestock, fisheries and forests, whereas additionally placing agricultural staff at severe danger.
A danger multiplier
Excessive warmth is “a significant danger multiplier,” mentioned FAO Director-Common Qu Dongyu, “exerting mounting strain on crops, livestock, fisheries and forests, and on the communities and economies that rely upon them.”
Throughout farming programs, the impacts are already seen. For a lot of main crops, yields start to say no above 30°C (86°F)resulting in weakened plant buildings and lowered productiveness. Livestock expertise stress at even decrease temperatures, notably pigs and poultry, which can’t cool themselves effectively, leading to lowered progress, decrease dairy yields and, in extreme instances, organ failure.
In oceans, rising temperatures are reducing oxygen ranges, placing fish beneath pressure – with 91 per cent of the worldwide ocean experiencing not less than one marine heatwave in 2024. Forests are additionally affected, as excessive warmth disrupts photosynthesis and will increase the chance of wildfires.
Excessive warmth additionally amplifies different local weather dangers. It might set off droughts, worsen water shortage, improve wildfire dangers and speed up the unfold of pests and illnesses – creating what the report describes as “compound results” that ripple throughout complete ecosystems.
‘Extreme impacts’ a actuality
In some areas, these impacts are already extreme.
A 2025 warmth occasion in Kyrgyzstan, for instance, noticed temperatures rise round 10°C above regular, contributing to a 25 per cent decline in cereal harvestswhereas additionally triggering locust swarms and decreasing irrigation capability.
Elsewhere, extended warmth and drought circumstances in Brazil in 2023 and 2024 lower soybean yields by as a lot as 20 per centwhereas a significant heatwave throughout North America in 2021 led to vital losses in fruit crops and a pointy spike in forest fires.
The human toll is equally stark. In elements of South Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America, the variety of days too scorching to work might rise to 250 per 12 months – placing hundreds of thousands of agricultural staff in danger and undermining meals manufacturing.
Excessive warmth is reshaping farming circumstances globally, threatening meals safety and rural livelihoods. (file photograph)
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To reply, the report requires pressing adaptation measures, together with heat-resilient crops, adjusted planting schedules and improved farm administration practices.
Early warning programs and entry to monetary help – akin to insurance coverage and social safety – are additionally important to assist farmers deal with rising dangers.
“Defending the way forward for agriculture and guaranteeing world meals safety would require not solely constructing on-farm resilience but additionally…a decisive transition away from a high-emissions future,” the UN businesses conclude.
