Article and Image courtesy: Down To Earth
Author: Indu Mathi S
Global warming has resulted in 20 per cent increase in price of wheat, maize, rice and soybean.
Estimated impact of climate change on crop production during 1980-2008. Negative values indicate climate change reduced yields
There have been many indicators that global warming could be hurting the world food production, lowering yields and increasing prices. Turns out the warming of the planet over the past three decades has already led to a measurable reduction in crop production of wheat and maize.
Researchers from Stanford University studied global production of four major crops, maize, wheat, rice and soybean. They found the production of maize and wheat declined by 3.8 per cent and 5.5 per cent, respectively. However, the effect on rice and soybean was insignificant with gains and losses in different countries balancing each other. Understanding the impacts of past trends can help gauge the importance of near-term climate change for supply of key food commodities, says lead researcher David B Lobell, department of environmental earth system science, Stanford University in the US.