This article was first published back in May, in My Mensa Weekly, our weekly newsletter for Mensa members.  

Words: Joan McFadden 

Which area of the UK produces one third of England’s vegetables, including key crops like potatoes, celery and carrots, and half of all UK-grown lettuce? If you guessed the Cambridgeshire Fens, you’d be right.  

This area is famous for the transformation from a low-lying swamp into fertile farmland. Of the 500,000 people living there, 80,000 are employed in some aspect of food production, and its food chain is estimated to put more than £3 billion into the UK economy every year. 

But did you know that research focusing on this important ecosystem is also offering hope in the battle for climate change mitigation and sustainable food production? 

Getting the balance right 

Farming in the Cambridgeshire fens provides a fascinating study into the delicate balance between food production and climate change, illustrating exactly why this is an ongoing concern worldwide.  

In this area, thousands of miles of watercourses and hundreds of pumping stations are in constant use to stop the carbon-rich soil becoming waterlogged again and render it useless for farming. But the downside is that the soil is releasing huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere and is itself being eroded by strong winds and rain. 

That’s where the Centre for Landscape Regeneration, co-led by Cambridge Zero and the Cambridge Conservation Research Institute, enters the fray. The Centre’s researchers are working to find the best ways of protecting both the Fens’ ecosystem and its farmers by improving resilience in the face of an uncertain climate future. 

The fruits of their labour will be a practical framework for farmers to continue producing food while helping to reduce carbon emissions, manage water resources and enrich biodiversity – thereby balancing human demand with nature’s needs.

The climate threat

Both the UK Government and various international bodies identify climate change and biodiversity loss as major contributing factors to food insecurity around the world. Countries may be unable to produce enough food to meet their needs without recourse to imports. Or, in the more traditional definition of food poverty, people may not have access to enough food – of sufficient quality – to meet their basic needs.

Projected increases in temperature, increased extreme weather events and reductions in water availability may all result in reduced agricultural productivity. Higher winter temperatures could stimulate pests and diseases while also affecting cereal and fruit production – this is because plants and trees need low winter temperature for flowering and growth. 

Meanwhile, higher temperatures in summer can pose risks for livestock farming, with heat stress causing all manner of problems from reduced fertility to increased susceptibility to disease. 

Extreme times 

In 2021, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted that the global average temperature would rise above 1.5°C over the next two decades compared to pre-industrial levels – and, likely, beyond 2°C before the end of the century – unless there was a deep reduction in greenhouse gas emissions over the coming decades.  

Last week brought the unnerving news from climate scientists that there is now a 66% chance of the world passing the 1.5C global warming threshold between now and 2027. 

Climate change is already leading to more frequent and intense extreme weather events, including heatwaves, droughts and floods. This is pushing some natural and human systems beyond their ability to adapt to such changes.  

The UK’s Climate Change Committee has identified risks to crops, livestock and fisheries both in the UK and around the world. In the northern hemisphere, increases in temperatures might improve yields in the short term (extreme weather events aside). But it will threaten yields of crops from other parts of the world, resulting in greater volatility in domestic food prices. 

Protect and survive 

Clearly, research into possible solutions is vital, and the work being done by The Centre for Landscape Regeneration is already starting to show results.  

Its work in the Cambridge Fens includes analysing soil samples taken across the area to identify which processes are at work, where, and the rate at which they are happening. The results will contribute to policy recommendations that highlight places where it would be practical – and worthwhile – to change the way certain land is managed.  

Further projects by the Centre include expanding habitats in the Cairngorms in Scotland, and addressing farming challenges in the Lake District in north-west England, with mitigation of the impacts of climate change at the heart of all the Centre’s work.