New Upcoming UK Crops - Sunflowers, Tea, Sweet Corn - Guardian

[hatrack]

The classic English landscapes of Constable and Turner will be redrawn by the middle of this century as British farmers turn to mass crops of sunflowers, sweetcorn and elephant grass. The UK and other northern European countries are expected to become one of the breadbaskets of the world, as commercial farming of once impossible-to-grow grain, fodder and beans is made possible by climate change.

Further south, however, landowners will struggle with water shortages and soil erosion, which could bankrupt them, resulting in a north-south European divide. The dramatic picture of Britain in 2050 will be shown to European agriculture and environment ministers, who gather in London this weekend to discuss the revolutionary impact of climate change on farming.

Scientists predict that climate change, which is largely blamed on global warming, will lead to hotter summers and wetter winters. Such changes are already credited with making possible crops such as apricots, almonds and tea in southern England. Milder weather has encouraged 300 vineyards, and talk of a French champagne house crossing the Channel. The real transformation, however, will be mass commercialisation of crops once only viable in southern Europe, claims a paper to be presented by Prof Martin Parry, a climate change expert at the Met Office.

For every degree centigrade of warming, the areas best suited to growing wheat, sweetcorn, sunflowers and soy beans will move 300km north, said Parry, who chairs a key working group of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.

EDIT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/climatechange/story/0,12374,1567316,00.html

[LiberalEsto]

1. Farmers in Maryland

are growing food crops familiar to African immigrants as a substitute for growing tobacco, according to the Washington Post. The immigrants love getting fresh produce that reminds them of their former homes.