Heat and Drought Are Quietly Hurting Crop Yields
Heat and Drought Are Quietly Hurting Crop Yields
A Stanford study reveals how climate change has altered growing conditions for the world’s five major crops over the past half century and is reshaping agriculture. The impacts corroborate climate models used to predict impacts, with a couple of important exceptions, according to the researchers.
Uniform rows of withered stalks highlight the broader impact of drying trends that outdated models failed to predict in key regions.
Vlad Antonov
More frequent hot weather and droughts have dealt a significant blow to crop yields, especially for key grains like wheat, barley, and maize, according to a Stanford study published this week in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The analysis finds that warming and air dryness – a key factor in crop stress – have surged in nearly every major agricultural region, with some areas experiencing growing seasons hotter than nearly any season 50 years ago. The study also pointed to two important ways that models have missed the mark in predicting impacts so far.
Read the full article on the Stanford Woods Institute for the Environment.