"We are in a war zone against this disease.” Climate change is fueling fire blight, and Northern Michigan’s apple orchards are at risk

It's harvest season in much of the Western Hemisphere, and so you're likely seeing a number of English-language "food and climate change" stories.

Aside from the obvious problems with superstorms, heat waves, heavier precipitation, and other weather phenomena, the active ranges for plant pests and diseases are changing, as this article illustrates.

Northern Michigan has managed to support local farmers through agrotourism, liberalization of liquor and brewing laws, advanced agriculture and food education at university level, and increased export support. Farmers' economic success here depends less on heavy yields than high-quality, value-added, or unique heirloom and organic products.

Nonetheless, the incidence of fire blight is one more stressor for a regional agriculture that's already suffering from erratic weather, unregulated imports, and urbanization pressures.

One of the deeply concerning items about bacterial fire blight control is that farmers may use unregulated quantities of antibiotics on the orchards. Though the article doesn't discuss it, there is evidence that antibiotic/fungicide use on crops may have led to the spread of the deadly, resistant fungal disease, Candida auris, in humans.