Global Warming’s Double Whammy: Reducing World Crop Yields and Increasing Food Prices

While many people still refuse to believe that global warming is real, the evidence for it continues to slowly grow, bringing frightening consequences – massive food shortages around the world, and skyrocketing prices for what food there is.

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This is especially true for staple crops, like wheat and corn. For most major agricultural countries, rising temperatures have had a damaging effected crop yields, resulting in below normal levels, especially of wheat and corn, said a new study by Stanford University.

David Lobell, the lead author of the study and an assistant professor of environmental Earth science at Stanford, said that he and his colleagues examined the temperature and rainfall records of major crop-growing countries over the last 30 years and did a comparative analysis of their crop yields.

The researchers found that global wheat production was 5.5 percent lower than what it would have been had climate remained stable. They also found that global corn production was lower by almost four percent.

Russia, India, and France suffered the greatest drops in wheat production relative to what they might have had without global warming. The largest comparative losses in corn production were seen in China and Brazil.

“Yields in most countries are still going up, but not as fast as we estimate they would be without [these] climate trends,” Mr. Lobell told the Stanford Report.

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The Amazon Rainforest – Earth’s Brazilian Lung Being Burned Down For Profit

Tropical rainforests are the lungs of the planet. Photosynthesis makes them massive carbon absorbers, regulating global climate. These rainforests generate most of the world’s rainfall and form a cooling band around the equator, acting as the Earth’s thermostat.

Amazon deforestation through burning. Photo courtesy Chris Neill/Marine Biological Laboratory.Cutting down forests causes two major problems - removing the planet’s natural carbon absorber, and adding more carbon into the atmosphere because many trees are cleared by burning. Too much carbon dioxide heats up the atmosphere, which then causes erratic global weather patterns.

Today in Brazil it’s still a lot cheaper to clearcut into the virgin Amazon rainforest to open up new pastures for grazing cattle than it is to rehabilitate existing pastures, says a new report from Brighter Green, a public policy action group.

“The most severe deforestation is occurring in South America, particularly in the Brazilian Amazon,” says a United Nations report. The information comes through the use of over 200 satellite images, maps, and graphs that highlight the most pervasive environmental issues in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Brazil is dealing with the conflicting goals of conserving its rainforest and continuing to be an export leader in agricultural commodities – most extensively beef and soybean.

Nearly 100 countries import fresh and frozen beef from Brazil, including Russia, Iran, China, (through Hong Kong), Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon, and Venezuela. In 2009, these exports were valued at $6.3 billion. Brazil’s cattle population - numbering about 190 million - is the world’s second largest behind India.

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Another Dry Year Ahead For the Golden State?

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Early indicators are showing that California may be facing another consecutive drought year. The state’s first snow survey of the 2009/2010 winter season was put out late last week, showing that snow water content is 15 percent below normal for this time of year.

It’s better than this time last year, when snow water was 24 percent below normal state levels, but still a cause for concern. “Despite some recent storms, the snow survey shows that we’re still playing catch-up when it comes to statewide water supplies,” said Sue Sims, chief deputy director of the California Department of Water Resources.

Snow water content is important in determining the coming year’s water supply. The measurements are used to provide data to hydroelectric power companies, the recreation industry, and hydrologists that prepare water supply forecasts.

The DWR’s early estimate is that it will only be able to deliver about five percent of the requested State Water Project water to the Bay Area, San Joaquin Valley, Central Coast, and Southern California. This reflects low storage levels in the state’s major reservoirs, and restrictions on water deliveries from the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta in order to protect endangered fish species.

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