March 19, 2007

World grain production value drops US$5 billion amid global warming
 

World grain production, including that of wheat, corn and barley, dropped by US$5 billion in value over 20 years amid higher temperatures globally, according to a study published in Environmental Research Letters Mar 16.

As for volume, the study said that grain production worldwide from 1981 to 2002 fell by 40 million tonnes annually due to the global warming.

In a statement to Reuters, Christopher Field, a US co-author on the study and ecology expert at the Carnegie Institution in Stanford, California, expressed concern that warmer temperatures had a detrimental effect on crop yields.

Average global yields for some of the crops fell 3 to 5 percent for every 1 deg F (0.0296 deg C) increase, the study said. During the study period, average temperatures worldwide rose by about 0.7 deg F, with some regions experiencing bigger changes.

The study also revealed that the grains affected by global warming accounted for over 70 percent of the world's animal feed.

Field commented that while farmers could adapt to warmer temperatures by changing planting times, varieties or locations of crops, this could take years.

On the other hand, a draft UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report recently obtained by Reuters said higher global temperatures is expected to stimulate plant growth. However, that report also warned that crop production would suffer if temperatures continued to rise beyond the middle of this century.