Climate change is expected to make insect pests hungrier, which could encourage farmers to use more pesticides.  - Kendra Pierre-Louis, The Bugs Are Coming, and They’ll Want More of Our Food, New York Times, 8/30/2018

The team notes that farmers and governments could try to lessen the impact of increased insect metabolism, such as shifting where crops are grown or trying to breed insect-resistant crops. But these alterations will take time and come with their own costs.  - Climate change projected to boost insect activity and crop loss, researchers say - James Urton, UWNews, August 30, 2018

A few points:

  1. Shifting crops to accommodate changing weather patterns is nothing new. Such shifts - to the north and east -  have been observed in the US since 1970. (Cho and McCarl, 2017)
  2. Ditto the development of insect-resistant crops, which are much less harmful to beneficial bugs than pesticides. (Gatehouse et al, 2011)
  3. Ditto the development of increasingly resilient crops, which are better at enduring the slings and arrows of outrageous climate. As long observed, healthier plants are less vulnerable to insect infestations. (Painter 1951) 
  4. Thanks to better plants and the spread of precision farming, "We can definitely say that insecticide use has gone down." Interview with Paul Vincelli of the Department of Plant Pathology/University of Kentucky (2017)

We can also definitely say that agricultural productivity has gone way, way up despite a climate that has been warming for at least a century. Check it out:

2018 Cereal Production.png

And this:

 

2018 Arable Land Needed.png

Optimism is not the enemy of vigilance. Moderate anxiety coupled with evidence-based optimism is a great motivator to try even harder. 

References:

Cho, S. J. and B. A. McCarl (2017). "Climate change influences on crop mix shifts in the United States." Scientific Reports 7: 40845.

Deutsch, C. A., J. J. Tewksbury, et al. (2018).  "Increase in crop losses to insect pests in a warming climate."  Science 361(6405): 916-919.

Dhankher, O. P. and C. H. Foyer (2018). "Climate resilient crops for improving global food security and safety." Plant, Cell & Environment 41(5): 877-884.

Gatehouse, A. M. R. et al. “Insect-Resistant Biotech Crops and Their Impacts on Beneficial Arthropods.” Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 366.1569 (2011): 1438–1452. PMC. Web. 4 Sept. 2018.

Knox, P. N., Fuhrmann, C. M., & Konrad, C. E. (2014). Challenges and opportunities for southeast agriculture in a changing climate: Perspectives from state climatologists. Southeastern Geographer, 54, 118-136.

Painter RH. 1951. Insect Resistance in Crop Plants. New York: MacMillan