A systematic review published in *Agriculture and Food Security* by Nam Vu, Michael Bourlakis, and Ioannis Manikas synthesised 342 peer-reviewed studies drawn from an initial pool of 9,230 publications, following PRISMA guidelines and a Web of Science search spanning 1970 to April 2023.

The authors catalogued 11 categories of climate change drivers and 9 categories of biodiversity drivers across the four pillars of food security — availability, accessibility, utilisation, and stability.

Their synthesis concludes that climate drivers exert predominantly negative pressures across agricultural, pastoral, and marine systems, while biodiversity drivers contribute substantially positive effects, enhancing yields, stabilising producer livelihoods, and supporting dietary quality when built into food production systems.

The imperative for the synthesis is stark: the study cites projections that the human population will reach 9.7 billion by 2050, requiring an estimated 70 percent increase in food consumption, while 2022 estimates recorded up to 783 million people facing chronic hunger and roughly 2.4 billion experiencing moderate or severe food insecurity.

The real-world squeeze is already visible — Futurism reports that Kellogg's has admitted its Rice Krispies no longer contain actual rice grains in UK and European markets, shifting to rice flour and corn flour.

A company spokesperson said the reformulation would help maintain consistent quality as changing weather conditions affect rice and grain supplies, with a powerful super El Niño devastating agriculture in South and Southeast Asia, where more than half the world's rice is grown.

According to the review, direct climatic variables documented across 273 studies primarily degrade food availability, with 126 papers identifying production losses from elevated temperatures, altered precipitation, and extreme weather — including yield collapses in maize and wheat and fatal heat stress in cattle.

Another 69 studies documented habitat shifts: 41 focused on marine fisheries and 28 on terrestrial staples, with fish such as Atlantic cod and Atlantic mackerel migrating poleward or into deeper, cooler waters.

While 218 studies found exclusively adverse impacts, 26 papers recorded conditional positives — nine found elevated CO2 stimulating photosynthesis in C3 crops like rice, wheat, barley, and soybeans, though the authors stress such gains are transient and frequently negated by climate damage elsewhere.

The stakes extend beyond yields.

The review finds climate drivers also hit economic accessibility — with coffee, grapevine, and cacao suffering productivity losses and fish migrations forcing costly offshore trips — and nutritional utilisation, an underexplored dimension where elevated CO2 reduces protein, minerals, and vitamins in cereals and leafy vegetables.

For stability, 105 climate-projection studies anticipate persistent supply volatility and structural production declines through 2050 and 2100 under high-emissions scenarios such as RCP 8.5, though mitigation limiting warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius is projected to largely avert catastrophic yield losses.

Meanwhile, Futurism reports Asian rice prices have climbed to their highest in almost two years, and the USDA is forecasting the first decline in global rice production in over a decade — signals that more reformulations and price shocks may follow.