Dates
Globally, Egypt produces the most dates followed by Iran, Algeria and Saudi Arabia. In the US, 90% of the date production occurs in California. [1] Temperature and water stresses are predicted to shift global production in coming years with less occuring in Saudi Arabia and parts of Iran, but potentially more in parts of Bolivia and Venezuela. [2] Predictions indicate that by 2100 Saudi Arabia’s current suitable area of production will be reduced by 85%. [3] In California, scientists have developed tools to optimize irrigation for dates. This is particularly important as water resources become more limited and more expensive. [4]
References:
[1] “Dates,” accessed August 6, 2021, https://www.agmrc.org/commodities-products/fruits/dates.
[2] Farzin Shabani, Lalit Kumar, and Subhashni Taylor, “Climate Change Impacts on the Future Distribution of Date Palms: A Modeling Exercise Using CLIMEX,” PLoS ONE 7, no. 10 (October 24, 2012): e48021, https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0048021.
[3] A. Allbed, L. Kumar, and F. Shabani, “Climate Change Impacts on Date Palm Cultivation in Saudi Arabia,” The Journal of Agricultural Science 155, no. 8 (October 2017): 1203–18, https://doi.org/10.1017/S0021859617000260.
[4] Aliasghar Montazar et al., “Determination of Actual Evapotranspiration and Crop Coefficients of California Date Palms Using the Residual of Energy Balance Approach,” Water 12, no. 8 (August 2020): 2253, https://doi.org/10.3390/w12082253.
