Climate change is pushing up food prices — and worrying central banks

Sixty years ago, when Giuseppe Divita’s grandparents opened their olive mill in Chiaramonte Gulfi, Sicily, the Italian island’s climate was ideal for producing the fruit. This is no longer the case, says Divita, who, alongside his brother, runs Oleificio Guccione, which today has its own groves as well as the mill. With average annual temperatures climbing and rainfall dwindling, growing olives and turning them into oil is becoming increasingly difficult. Throughout the Mediterranean, reduced yields and higher input costs for olive producers have pushed up prices to 20-year highs this year. The production problems are only going to get worse as the effects of climate become more acute, predicts Divita. For millennia, food production and pricing have been disrupted by the weather, with one-off events such as heatwaves, droughts, flooding or frosts cutting harvests and raising prices. War and disease are also factors, as the world saw recently after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the

Sixty years ago, when Giuseppe Divita’s grandparents opened their olive mill in Chiaramonte Gulfi, Sicily, the Italian island’s climate was ideal for producing the fruit. This is no longer the case, says Divita, who, alongside his brother, runs Oleificio Guccione, which today has its own groves as well as the mill. With average annual temperatures climbing and rainfall dwindling, growing olives and turning them into oil is becoming increasingly difficult. Throughout the Mediterranean, reduced yields and higher input costs for olive producers have pushed up prices to 20-year highs this year. Th