13 Future Foods That Could Help Us Survive Climate Change

As Earth's climate changes, with new heat records and unusually dry weather being recorded every year, farms are feeling the strain. Some of the most dire impacts of the changing climate are felt by agriculture, affecting both the farms themselves and the rural workers who tend them. As the EPA explains, this industry is more susceptible than most to environmental conditions because of its heavy reliance on land quality and water supply. Numerous everyday crops are already under threat by climate change. This includes luxury goods like cocoa and coffee, but also vital staples like corn and potatoes. Some studies have found that crop yields of rice and wheat are already declining. According to NASA, within the next decade, this is likely to become steadily worse, with yields of maize expected to fall by almost 25%.

The world's top four staple crops are wheat, potatoes, maize, and rice. On a warmer planet, though, with more extreme weather and greater numbers of pests, suitable growing lands for these will change. While warmer conditions may benefit some farmlands, others will likely see the crops they've been growing for decades start to struggle as temperatures continue to rise, pushing farmers to try growing new crops instead. Experts suggest that diversifying their fields will be a winning strategy, helping farms to survive while still supplying enough food to feed everyone else. An often overlooked point, too, is that as well as improving sustainability, farms will need to account for local tastes and culture. Here are some foods that could help farms and humans thrive as climate change continues to impact the world.

Future foods don't necessarily need to be new. Some, like black-eyed peas, are surprisingly old. Sometimes called cowpeas, they're actually one of the world's oldest cultivated crops, originally from Africa but now grown and eaten all over the planet. They're also a very drought-tolerant crop, much more so than some other legumes like soybeans. West Africa, the original home of the black-eyed pea, is still one of the places they're most often eaten, and Nigeria is currently the world's top grower of them. They're also an efficient crop to farm for food because the entire plant is edible. As well as the beans themselves, the plant's leaves can be eaten as a tasty green vegetable.

Black-eyed peas aren't difficult to cook, and many a kitchen enthusiast has likely tried making them before. Much like other pulses and legumes, they work excellently in soups and stews. They can also be made into flour, which is used in some African recipes from countries like Ghana and Sierra Leone. With a nutty flavor, black-eyed peas have a lighter taste than some other beans, but a more savory flavor than garden peas. When cooked, they also have a slightly firmer feel than other beans, like pinto beans. In North America, black-eyed beans are often used in cooking from the Southern U.S. states, where it's traditionally good luck to eat them for New Year's Day.

Also known as yuca or manioc, cassava is a large, starchy root tuber. It grows well in hot climates where the water and nutrients stored in the plant's thick roots make it good at tolerating heat waves and droughts. As long as it has a long growing season, the only crops that produces more food per acre are bananas and potatoes. Cassava has a nutty, earthy taste and is a popular part of cuisines in the Caribbean, South America, Africa, and some Asian countries. While it's widely eaten though, it comes with one important caveat — cassava cannot be eaten uncooked. In fact, it's toxic when raw, only becoming safe to eat when properly peeled and cooked. Peeling cassava is best done with a sharp knife rather than a potato peeler, thanks to its thick, waxy skin.

In the kitchen, cassava can be cooked in similar ways to potatoes. It can easily be chopped and made into fries or even chips. It can also be dried and ground into flour and is quite a popular ingredient in gluten-free baking. Notably, it's also used to make tapioca. Some of the more interesting uses for cassava come from Southeast Asia, where it can also be made into sweet dishes. A favorite dessert in the Philippines is cassava cake. Slightly chewy, with a soft, custardy flavor, it's made with coconut and grated cassava.

Amaranth is another crop in which the whole plant is edible. It's even used in different ways depending on what cuisine it's found in. In Africa and Asia, it's traditionally enjoyed as a leafy vegetable, while Native Americans have always harvested the grains from their colorful seed plumes. Like buckwheat, amaranth is a pseudocereal, and it's very good at surviving droughts. A tenacious vegetable, when the Spanish banned Native Mesoamericans from growing amaranth, the plant survived by growing as a weed. In recent years, farmers across both North and South America have been investigating growing it on a larger scale for its hardiness and ability to thrive in hotter climates.

As a grain, amaranth is very similar to quinoa, with the biggest difference being that it prefers to grow in hot climates. The whole grains can be boiled and served like rice or made into porridge, or they can be ground into gluten-free flour for baking. According to Healthline, the grain is packed with fiber and protein, rich in manganese and magnesium, and some studies have shown that eating it may help to reduce cholesterol. As a green vegetable, amaranth leaves work very well in stir-fry, and are the main ingredient in a type of stew known as biteku teku in Central Africa.

Anyone familiar with the cuisines of South Asia, the Middle East, and the Mediterranean will no doubt be familiar with chickpeas. Also known as garbanzo beans, they're a protein-rich food staple and the plant manages dry conditions better than other legumes, thanks to their deep roots. Considered one of the most important legumes cultivated in the world today, chickpeas are still susceptible to stress from dry conditions and excessive heat, but researchers are working to breed species better able to withstand extreme weather conditions.

For inspiration on how to cook with chickpeas, all you need to do is look to Asia. In India, where they're a staple, there are numerous recipes that include them, and some in which they're the main ingredient, like a vegan curry called chana masala. An incredibly versatile food, they can be used to make things like falafel, hummus, and a type of flatbread called socca — meaning that it's technically possible to make an entire varied meal mostly from chickpeas.

In West Africa, fonio is a traditional cereal with a nutty flavor and a texture similar to quinoa or couscous. It's known as Africa's oldest grain, and it's been cultivated for millennia. Historically, it's been given great value at times, being served on holy days in places like Mali and Senegal. Fonio is also an extremely resilient crop. It's good at withstanding drought conditions, and can be grown in poor-quality soil, making it an attractive crop for places hit by both climate change and soil erosion problems. As an extra bonus, it's a nutritious grain, and is both gluten-free and with a low glycemic index. This makes fonio an attractive choice for people with some dietary restrictions.

Fonio, like other grains, can be cooked similarly to things like rice. Boiled, it has a similar firm texture to quinoa with a flavor that's stronger, but not so much as to overpower anything it's being served with. As well as being boiled, fonio can also be ground into flour and used to make both breads and cakes, and its distinctive flavor can go very nicely in recipes like pound cake.

For the places hit hardest by climate change, pearl millet is a promising crop to grow. It's extremely resilient to dry conditions, and is already grown in places where rainfall is low and unreliable. The plant is evolved to be resistant to conditions so dry that they'd kill many other cereal crops, and it uses the same kind of efficient photosynthesis as crops like sorghum. Pearl millet is also able to withstand dramatically hotter weather than many other crops, able to keep producing grains at temperatures of up to 107 degrees Fahrenheit. A tough little plant, it's also very efficient at using nitrogen in the soil, and it can grow well with less fertilizer than other cereal crops.

The grains of pearl millet are nutritious and rich in protein and fiber, but they're also difficult to cook compared to other cereals. This tough little plant produces tough little grains that need to be soaked overnight like dried beans, to soften them up. When ready to cook, they're added to soups and stews in South Asia, where the grain often goes by the name of bajra. Like most other grains, pearl millet can be boiled whole like rice, to accompany other dishes. Gluten-free, the grains can also be ground into flour and used in baking, and can make good flatbreads like Indian roti.