Scientists say if global temperatures continue to rise, the United States faces big drops in harvests of major food crops by 2100. A climate impact research document says the rising temperatures may ultimately lead to higher global food prices. An international team of scientists wrote in the journal Nature Communications that by the year 2100, if global emissions rise at “business as usual” levels, the world will see twice as many days with temperatures above 86 degrees Fahrenheit as it does now. Because crop yields start to drop when temperatures reach that level, it suggests U.S. wheat yields would fall by 20 percent, corn by 50 percent and soybeans by 40 percent by the turn of the century, according to computer modeling.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.