USDA Study Projects Massive Changes In US Agricultural & Forest Output By Mid-Century [View all]

[hatrack]

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For agriculture, the USDA’s analysis predicts that climate change will end a 150-year period of relatively stable climate that has contributed to the industry’s “remarkable capacity to adapt to a wide diversity of growing conditions and dynamic social and economic changes.”

By mid-century, temperatures will rise between 1.8°F and 5.4°F and yields of major crops will begin to decline. Shifting rain and snowfall patterns will also work to reduce crop productivity, outweighing any benefit that rising atmospheric carbon dioxide levels might have on plant growth.

Jerry Hatfield, director of USDA’s National Laboratory for Agriculture and the Environment, said that climate change could mean that a staple crop like corn spends more growing days in temperatures outside the range that produces optimal yields.

And perennial crops like cherries may have a harder time as warming reduces the number of cold winter days the plants need to experience to properly flower and set fruit once spring comes. “Cherries need 1,000 hours of temperature below 43 degrees Fahrenheit,” Hatfield said. “If those hours now go from 1,000 to 500 in a season because of warming at a certain location, cherry production is going to be greatly affected.”

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http://www.climatecentral.org/news/climate-change-set-to-batter-u.s.-agriculture-forests-15564?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+climatecentral%2FdjOO+Climate+Central+-+Full+Feed