How Will Climate Change Impact Bread?, Part 2
Warming temperatures will exacerbate crop-destructive events, ranging from fires to floods. David Biello reports
SUBSCRIBE TO 60-Second Earth
Climate change may have begun to hit humans where it hurts—in the stomach. Research has shown how changing temperatures have influenced wheat yields in Montana over the last 60 years. And now catastrophic fires sweeping Russia give a taste of what climate change may bring to that bread basket.
Millions of hectares of this year's wheat crop have been lost to the heat, drought and fires this summer in Russia—prompting U.S. wheat prices to double in a matter of days. Fears of a shortage led Russian and Ukrainian officials to impose controls on wheat exports. And that means higher costs for staples like bread or cereal.
Fortunately, global wheat stockpiles are in better shape than during the last food crisis in 2007 and 2008. The supply may allow the world to dodge a repeat.
On supporting science journalism
If you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.
But climate change means that the risk of such fires—and the catastrophic floods that have affected 20 million people in Pakistan—continues to increase. In fact, the two events were connected by the same weather system, leading some scientists to blame human greenhouse gas emissions. That may or may not be the case with this individual weather event, which generally cannot be tied to global warming. But scientists will likely have to be very clever to assure that vital food crop yields keep pace with the coming climate of change.
—David Biello
Subscribe to Support Independent Journalism
Great science journalism requires human expertise, time, effort and creativity. And it costs money. That’s why I and the journalists here at Scientific American hope you’ll join our community.
When you subscribe, you are supporting staff and freelance journalists who are passionate about telling science stories that are true, important and compelling. Our editors and reporters are often experts in their fields, which means they understand the nuances of big discoveries and can untangle the breakthroughs from the hype. With a subscription, you are also supporting rigorous fact-checking to ensure the words we publish are precise and accurate. And you’re supporting original illustrations, graphics and photos that bring you closer to an advanced laboratory, an ice sheet in Antarctica or a space mission in orbit. You’re helping us craft other types of high-quality journalism as well: Our newsletters are carefully written, edited and curated by staffers you have or will come to know and love. Our Science Quickly podcast is based on original reporting, collaboration with editors and scientists and exacting production.
Subscriptions keep this engine running so we can continue to deliver thoughtful, rigorous and independent science journalism to you. In an era of viral misinformation, this work is crucial. If you value what we do, I hope you’ll consider joining us as a subscriber
