Fact-checking a Trump administration claim about climate change and crops » Yale Climate Connections
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A recent Department of Energy report falsely states that rising carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere will boost agricultural yields. In fact, climate change is much more likely to make food scarcer and more expensive.

cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/29116335

A draft report commissioned by the Trump administration’s Department of Energy, or DOE, misleadingly claims that increasing levels of carbon dioxide could be beneficial for agriculture. In fact, mainstream climate experts have found that rising CO2 levels, by causing climate change, are harmful to agriculture overall – and likely to cause food prices to increase.

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  • Jim East@slrpnk.netOPEnglish
    4·
    4 months ago

    The study’s authors estimated that each additional 1°C of global warming in 2100 will reduce crop yields by the equivalent of 4.4% of each person on Earth’s recommended daily calorie intake. Most staple crops, including wheat, corn, and soybeans, will see significant yield declines.

    It’s a vicious cycle – climate change reduces agricultural yields, which forces farmers to convert more forests to cropland, which adds more carbon to the atmosphere and worsens climate change.

    This article is really making an excellent case for addressing climate change and deforestation by moving away from “staple crops, including wheat, corn, and soybeans” and planting large and biodiverse food forests which actually reduce surface temperatures and increase humidity, sheltering the short-term crops planted between the trees from the heatwaves and droughts brought on by climate change.