Global climate change has already taken a toll on the world's food production, driving up the price of food by as much as 20 percent, a new study indicates.
The study, published in the journal Science, examined how rising temperatures has affected the world's major food crops: corn, wheat, rice and soybeans.
To estimate the economic impact of the changes in crop yield, the researchers used models of commodity markets.
"We found that since 1980, the effects of climate change on crop yields have caused an increase of approximately 20 percent in global market prices," said Wolfram Schlenker, an economist at Columbia University and a co-author of the paper.
The researchers said that global wheat production was 5.5 percent lower than it would have been had the climate remained stable. While global corn production was lower by nearly 4 percent, global rice and soybean production weren't significantly affected.
Relative to what yields might have been with no global warming, Russia, India and France experienced the greatest drops in wheat production, the study shows. China and Brazil suffered the largest comparative losses in corn production.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/Resource-Wars/2011/05/06/Climate-change-driving-up-food-costs/UPI-54091304706281/#ixzz1Lptz9SrF
