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8th October 2010, 10:56 AM
Study: Crop failures to increase with climate change.
11:43 AMYahoo! BuzzShare
Recommend Huge crop failures such as Russia's wheat crisis this year are likely to become more common as climate change causes more extreme periods of heat and drought, a new study finds.
In the Voronezh region, about 260 miles south of Moscow, a wheat field is dried-out after weeks of searing heat and practically no rain on Aug. 2, 2010. A severe drought destroyed one-fifth of the wheat crop in Russia, the world's third-largest exporter, and now wildfires are sweeping in to finish off some of the fields that remained.(CAPTIONBy Mikhail Metzel, APResearchers at the University of Leeds simulated climate change's effect on spring wheat in northeast China found that about 20% to 30% of crops could could fail through 2099. Their study appears in Environmental Research Letters.
"More extreme weather events are expected to occur in the coming years due to climate change, and we have shown that these events are likely to lead to more crop failures," Andy Challinor of the university's School of Earth and Environment, the study's lead author, said in a statement. "What we need to do now is think about the solutions."
The study says farmers may be able to able to adapt to climate change with greater investments and new crops that better tolerate heat and drought. It looks only at crops in China, but the authors said they plan to use their methodology to study other agricultural regions worldwide
A summer of drought and wildfires devastated Russia this year. Its government banned wheat exports, prompting wheat prices to soar on international commodity markets.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/10/crop-failures-climate-change/1
11:43 AMYahoo! BuzzShare
Recommend Huge crop failures such as Russia's wheat crisis this year are likely to become more common as climate change causes more extreme periods of heat and drought, a new study finds.
In the Voronezh region, about 260 miles south of Moscow, a wheat field is dried-out after weeks of searing heat and practically no rain on Aug. 2, 2010. A severe drought destroyed one-fifth of the wheat crop in Russia, the world's third-largest exporter, and now wildfires are sweeping in to finish off some of the fields that remained.(CAPTIONBy Mikhail Metzel, APResearchers at the University of Leeds simulated climate change's effect on spring wheat in northeast China found that about 20% to 30% of crops could could fail through 2099. Their study appears in Environmental Research Letters.
"More extreme weather events are expected to occur in the coming years due to climate change, and we have shown that these events are likely to lead to more crop failures," Andy Challinor of the university's School of Earth and Environment, the study's lead author, said in a statement. "What we need to do now is think about the solutions."
The study says farmers may be able to able to adapt to climate change with greater investments and new crops that better tolerate heat and drought. It looks only at crops in China, but the authors said they plan to use their methodology to study other agricultural regions worldwide
A summer of drought and wildfires devastated Russia this year. Its government banned wheat exports, prompting wheat prices to soar on international commodity markets.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/10/crop-failures-climate-change/1