AFP - Climate Breakdown Swings Set To Quadruple Corn Prices In Years Of Peak Volatility

[hatrack]

Climate change will more than quadruple US corn prices in years of peak volatility, environmental scientists said on Sunday. In a study of the factors that drive up prices in the world's key market for corn, more frequent heatwaves, predicted as a result of global warming, proved far more important than government policies to promote biofuels or than higher oil prices.

"Severe heat is the big hammer," said Noah Diffenbaugh of Stanford University in California. "Even one or two degrees of global warming is likely to substantially increase heatwaves that lead to low-yield years and more price volatility."

The study found that climate change would increase year-on-year corn price volatility by a factor of 4.1.

The fluctuations were based on a projection for 2020-40 compared to volatility in recent history. The study, published in Nature Climate Change, used a computer scenario based on warming that ultimately reaches 2.0 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) over pre-industrial times.

EDIT

http://news.yahoo.com/warming-set-corn-prices-pop-171254554.html

[phantom power]

1. the big hammer