UMN study finds climate change is helping some crops, but hurting more

It’s likely that climate change already is affecting world crop production — hurting it in some areas, helping it in others, but on balance pushing it lower, according to a new University of Minnesota-led study.

“There are winners and losers, and some countries that are already food insecure fare worse,” said lead author Deepak Ray of the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment.

The study, conducted with researchers from the University of Oxford and the University of Copenhagen, used weather and reported crop data to evaluate the potential impact of observed climate change on 10 crops: barley, cassava, maize, oil palm, rapeseed, rice, sorghum, soybean, sugarcane and wheat. The 10 accounted for a combined 83% of all calories produced on cropland.

View the complete July 1 article by Jonathan Knutson on The Pioneer Press website here.