When wildfires ravaged Abby Rose's farm in January 2017, every inch of her land was burned. Following many years of drought in Chile, temperatures exceeded 40C (104F) that summer and strong winds spread flames uncontrollably across southern and central regions for weeks.
"Fires were raging, it was terrifying and being on the frontline of devastation like that completely changed my understanding of farming," says Rose, who recalls struggling in a thick cloud of smoke as she fought to protect her 300-hectare (1.2-sq-mile) family farm in the Loncomilla Valley. "It was the closest I have ever been to thinking what a war zone must be like."
During those fires – a national disaster made all the more extreme by the intensifying climate crisis – all 8,000 of her young olive trees burned just before their first commercial harvest was due to take place. Almost 90% of her olive crops died. It was a "total wipeout", she says, and financially devastating.
Climate change has increased the number of large wildfires occurring each year and increased the length of the fire season in which wildfires are more likely. Since the Chilean blaze in 2017, major wildfires have also raged in the Amazon, California and Australia, with farmers paying the cost through lost livestock and crops. And it's not just fires – major weather disasters caused by climate change, including floods, droughts and storms, have increased five-fold in the past five decades.
If the trend for more disasters continues, it will take a combination of innovation and smarter farming to mitigate those losses. Farmers like Rose are learning to adapt.
Instead of olives, Rose now grows almonds and pistachios, which are both more drought-resistant. She also grazes sheep, which enrich the soil beneath the trees with their faeces. "We had to think differently about how the farm would go forward, so we encourage more biodiversity and keep the cover green for as long as possible throughout the year because that tends not to burn," says Rose. "We had no choice but to respond quickly and adapt to more regenerative practices."
The solutions for farming in a changing climate can be both impressively scientific and surprisingly simple.