Global food crisis will worsen as heatwaves damage crops, research finds

[xchrom]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/jan/13/global-food-crisis-heatwaves-crops?intcmp=122


Sprinklers water crops in Bakersfield, California, during a heatwave. Photograph: David McNew/Getty Images

The world's food crisis, where 1 billion people are already going hungry and a further 2 billion people will be affected by 2050, is set to worsen as increasing heatwaves reverse the rising crop yields seen over the last 50 years, according to new research.

Severe heatwaves, such as those currently seen in Australia, are expected to become many times more likely in coming decades due to climate change. Extreme heat led to 2012 becoming the hottest year in the US on record and the worst corn crop in two decades.

New research, which used corn growing in France as an example, predicts losses of up to 12% for maize yields in the next 20 years. A second, longer-term study published on Sunday indicates that, without action against climate change, wheat and soybean harvests will fall by up to 30% by 2050 as the world warms.

"Our research rings alarm bells for future food security," said Ed Hawkins, at the University of Reading, who worked on the corn study. "Over the last 50 years, developments in agriculture, such as fertilisers and irrigation, have increased yields of the world's staple foods, but we're starting to see a slowdown in yield increases."

[NYC_SKP]

1. Those who say that 10 billion people on Earth is a possibility...

...do so with the assumption that climate change doesn't exist or that it won't impact things like food production or the availability of water.

Personally, I think we've grossly overpopulated already, even under non-warming conditions.

The future is very bleak.

[pscot]

2. 30% less food and 60% more people

Not good.

[NoOneMan]

3. I've seen a variety of studies that predict we will be so so until 2050

Or at least steady for the next 25 years (according to new national assessment).

This seems optimistic to me considering the drought and current state of agriculture.

Am I nuts, or is it possible for famine to sneak up and spell full disaster much quicker than these projections?

Or maybe we will have a series of small regional crop failures/famines in the meantime until "the big one"?

No one ever says they wish to live in boring times.

[FleetwoodMac]

4. Most do not understand the level of atrocity here...

The number of people who die from starvation last year is more than the whole population of Michigan.

Out of that, the number of children who died last year is equal to the whole population of Maryland.

If that's not enough, 178 million children under the age of 5 across the world are stunted because of malnutrition.

No one should live with, or die from starvation, especially children, when the world is fully capable of feeding them.

Look at India. 230 million are starving, and yet, 40% of the food produced there are destroyed due to inefficient distribution.
Heck, look at the United States. 14.5% of Americans face food insecurity, but we literally throw 40% of our food away.

[stuntcat]

5. and why not?

I just don't know. It baffles me that people don't face how many people are dying.. over 40,000 each day and mostly children. While so much food is wasted, and so much fed to animals.

Once out at a restaurant someone asked me why I didn't order more food. I mean I'd ordered what I wanted, lay off, you know? So I said "Because I don't over-eat.. because people are starving." The happy answer I got was "Not at THIS table!" It's just sad that the person saying it was grossly obese.
I can't have hope for humanity. Everybody thanks God for touchdowns and green lights while thousands of babies are starving to death.

[FleetwoodMac]

6. I can offer no answer or explanation...

And your anecdote, sadly, is another symptom of the not-my-problem disease.