AlleyCat
2024-08-28 15:37:05 UTC
Maybe YOU can explain why we're growing RECORD crops, but it's not the CO2?
Bloomberg Notices That Farms Keep Having Record Crop Yields, But Omits CO2's Out-sized Role
Human Progress excerpted a paywalled article from Bloomberg discussing the fact that major crops are expected
to continue to set records in the 2024/2025 crop year.
This good news is not unexpected for anyone who understands agronomy and botany or who regularly reads
Climate Realism.
It reflects the long-term trend for most crops during the period of modest warming and increased atmospheric
carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations.
Sadly, Bloomberg's story ignores the proven and significant role rising CO2 levels are playing in improved
crop yields and production.
Human Progress writes:
Compared with a decade ago, the world will harvest in 2024-25 about 10% more wheat, about 15% more corn,
nearly 30% more soybeans, and about 10% more rice. Except for corn, all the other three key food commodities
will enjoy a record high production.
he US Department of Agriculture said it anticipates American farmers will reap record yields for two key
food commodities: on average, 183.1 bushels per acre of corn, and 53.2 bushels per acre of soybeans...
Two decades ago, US corn farmers were harvesting about 150 bushels per acre; in the mid-1980s, the number
was closer to 110 bushels.
This good news further confirms what Climate Realism has long pointed out.
Modestly warmer weather and higher CO2 levels are good for plants in general, leading to a net greening of
the earth and boosting yields and production of crops.
The most recent data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that globally the yield and
production of cereal crops (the crop segment that makes up the majority of the calorie intake each day, often
referred to as staple foods, like rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize) have increased
dramatically over the recent period slight warming.
Between 1990 and 2022, the most recent year for which the FAO has data:
Cereal yields have increased nearly 52 percent, with the most recent record for yield set in 2022; and
Cereal production grew by approximately 57 percent. (see the chart, below)
Source: FAOSTAT (August 25, 2024)
Unfortunately, Bloomberg downplays or ignores entirely the role that warming and rising CO2 have played in
record crop yields and production, attributing the record-setting crop production to expanded irrigation and
better technologies like improved combines and tractors.
Although improved technologies and wider access to them have undoubtedly contributed to the increase in crop
production, research thoroughly demonstrates that so have CO2 increases.
Indeed, higher CO2 levels may have been the most significant factor driving crop increases in recent decades.
As has been discussed in more than 200 articles on Climate Realism, what is true of global cereal production
is true for most crops, like fruits, legumes, tubers, and vegetables in most countries around the world.
Yields have set records repeatedly during the recent period of climate change, food security has increased,
and hunger and malnutrition have fallen.
Agronomy and Botany explain why crop production and yields have increased amidst global warming, and the same
sciences explain why the world should likely expect crop production gains to continue.
Modest warming has brought slightly higher rainfall totals and a modestly longer growing season with fewer
crop-killing late-season frosts.
In addition, crops benefit from higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which any greenhouse operator
will tell you is plant fertilizer, contributing to plants growing larger, faster, and using water more
efficiently.
Thousands of real-world field and greenhouse experiments summarized at CO2 Science document the beneficial
effect of higher CO2 concentrations on plant growth and crop production.
Even NASA has acknowledged this point, writing:
Studies have shown that higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide affect crops in two important
ways: they boost crop yields by increasing the rate of photosynthesis, which spurs growth, and they reduce
the amount of water crops lose through transpiration. Plants transpire through their leaves, which contain
tiny pores called stomata that open and collect carbon dioxide molecules for photosynthesis. During that
process, they release water vapor. As carbon dioxide concentrations increase, the pores don't open as wide,
resulting in lower levels of transpiration by plants and thus increased water-use efficiency.
Specifically, research cited in the journal Environmental Economics and Policy Studies found:
atellite-based studies have yielded compelling evidence of stronger general growth effects than were
anticipated in the 1990s. Zhu et al (2016) published a comprehensive study on greening and human activity
from 1982 to 2009. The ratio of land areas that became greener, as opposed to browner, was approximately 9 to
1. The increase in atmospheric CO2 was just under 15% over the interval but was found to be responsible for
approximately 70% of the observed greening, followed by the deposition of airborne nitrogen compounds (9%)
from the combustion of coal and deflation of nitrate-containing agricultural fertilizers, lengthening growing
seasons (8%), and land cover changes (4%), mainly reforestation of regions such as southeastern North
America.
It is refreshing to see a major media outlet, like Bloomberg, publish some good news about crop production
amid the near-constant drumbeat of false "climate change-induced crop failure" stories put out by the
mainstream media.
One can only speculate why its writers ignored the firmly established roles that modest warming and more CO2
have played over the decades and continue to play in the increase in food production.
http://archive.today/2020.02.04-181350/https:/link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10018-020-00263-w
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
http://co2science.org/
http://www.co2science.org/
https://archive.ph/2024.08.27-151128/https:/www.nasa.gov/technology/nasa-study-rising-carbon-dioxide-levels-
will-help-and-hurt-crops/#selection-4999.0-4999.266
https://climatechangedispatch.com/another-report-confirms-co2-is-greening-the-earth-improving-crops/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/climate-expert-neither-climate-nor-climate-change-causes-fuels-or-
influences-weather/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/cnbc-claims-climate-change-hurting-cambodias-crops-its-not/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/ignore-the-climate-crisis-hype-humanity-is-thriving-thanks-to-fossil-fuels/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/media-fail-iowa-crops-setting-records-not-failing-amid-modest-warming/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/msn-pushes-rice-sugar-tomato-apocalypse-as-crops-set-records/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/study-past-global-greening-reacted-quickly-to-more-co2-in-the-air/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/wapo-pushes-phony-claim-that-climate-change-harming-african-crops/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/who-is-spearheading-the-global-war-on-agriculture-and-nutrition/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/wired-promotes-ipccs-phony-crop-disaster-as-harvests-set-records/
https://climaterealism.com/category/climate-change-impacts/crop-production/
https://humanprogress.org/a-break-in-the-weather-good-news-from-the-worlds-farms/
Loading Image...
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-08-14/food-costs-are-falling-as-farmers-help-slay-the-
inflation-dragon
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare
=====
August:
Snow In Wyoming And Colorado
August Snow Has U.S. Resorts Planning For Winter
Rare Snow And Century-Old Cold Records Fall In California
Rare August Chill Breaks Decades-Old Records
Rare August Snow For The Sierra Nevada
The Atlantic's Rapid Cooling
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand's South Island
Record Summer Chills Sweep The Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southern Canada
Where Are The Hurricanes? Another Crushing Defeat For Team Climate Change
Antarctica Registers -75.5C (-103.9F), Sea Ice Surges
Winter Far From Over In New Zealand
Historical "Heatwave Days" Show No Trend
Researchers Pumped Extra CO2 Into A Forest, And Biodiversity Thrived
Low Temperature Records Fall In U.S.
Frosts Persist In South America, Impacting Coffee Prices
Island Nations Like Tuvalu: Growing, Not Sinking
Record Cold Sweeps Brazil
Antarctica Back Below -70C (-94F)
Summer Snowfall at Khardungla Pass
Polar Bear And Arctic Sea Ice Lies Persist
Polar Fronts To Hit South America
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Gains 1 Million Km2 In A Week
Frigid Winter Forecast For NH
Vast Cold Wave About To Sweep The U.S.
Greek Study Challenges CO2-Temperature Causality
Arctic Shipping Season Is Shortening
Rapid Antarctic Sea Ice Growth
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand
Too Many Polar Bears In Greenland
British Farmers Paid To NOT Produce Food
Record July Cold Hits Scotland
Summer To Quit Early This Year
Remarkable Summer Gains On The Greenland Ice Sheet
Arctic Sea Ice Extent: No Cause For Alarm
$78 Trillion To Fight The Hoax of 'Climate Crisis'
Bloomberg Notices That Farms Keep Having Record Crop Yields, But Omits CO2's Out-sized Role
Human Progress excerpted a paywalled article from Bloomberg discussing the fact that major crops are expected
to continue to set records in the 2024/2025 crop year.
This good news is not unexpected for anyone who understands agronomy and botany or who regularly reads
Climate Realism.
It reflects the long-term trend for most crops during the period of modest warming and increased atmospheric
carbon dioxide (CO2) concentrations.
Sadly, Bloomberg's story ignores the proven and significant role rising CO2 levels are playing in improved
crop yields and production.
Human Progress writes:
Compared with a decade ago, the world will harvest in 2024-25 about 10% more wheat, about 15% more corn,
nearly 30% more soybeans, and about 10% more rice. Except for corn, all the other three key food commodities
will enjoy a record high production.
he US Department of Agriculture said it anticipates American farmers will reap record yields for two key
food commodities: on average, 183.1 bushels per acre of corn, and 53.2 bushels per acre of soybeans...
Two decades ago, US corn farmers were harvesting about 150 bushels per acre; in the mid-1980s, the number
was closer to 110 bushels.
This good news further confirms what Climate Realism has long pointed out.
Modestly warmer weather and higher CO2 levels are good for plants in general, leading to a net greening of
the earth and boosting yields and production of crops.
The most recent data from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) shows that globally the yield and
production of cereal crops (the crop segment that makes up the majority of the calorie intake each day, often
referred to as staple foods, like rice, wheat, rye, oats, barley, millet, and maize) have increased
dramatically over the recent period slight warming.
Between 1990 and 2022, the most recent year for which the FAO has data:
Cereal yields have increased nearly 52 percent, with the most recent record for yield set in 2022; and
Cereal production grew by approximately 57 percent. (see the chart, below)
Source: FAOSTAT (August 25, 2024)
Unfortunately, Bloomberg downplays or ignores entirely the role that warming and rising CO2 have played in
record crop yields and production, attributing the record-setting crop production to expanded irrigation and
better technologies like improved combines and tractors.
Although improved technologies and wider access to them have undoubtedly contributed to the increase in crop
production, research thoroughly demonstrates that so have CO2 increases.
Indeed, higher CO2 levels may have been the most significant factor driving crop increases in recent decades.
As has been discussed in more than 200 articles on Climate Realism, what is true of global cereal production
is true for most crops, like fruits, legumes, tubers, and vegetables in most countries around the world.
Yields have set records repeatedly during the recent period of climate change, food security has increased,
and hunger and malnutrition have fallen.
Agronomy and Botany explain why crop production and yields have increased amidst global warming, and the same
sciences explain why the world should likely expect crop production gains to continue.
Modest warming has brought slightly higher rainfall totals and a modestly longer growing season with fewer
crop-killing late-season frosts.
In addition, crops benefit from higher carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere, which any greenhouse operator
will tell you is plant fertilizer, contributing to plants growing larger, faster, and using water more
efficiently.
Thousands of real-world field and greenhouse experiments summarized at CO2 Science document the beneficial
effect of higher CO2 concentrations on plant growth and crop production.
Even NASA has acknowledged this point, writing:
Studies have shown that higher concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide affect crops in two important
ways: they boost crop yields by increasing the rate of photosynthesis, which spurs growth, and they reduce
the amount of water crops lose through transpiration. Plants transpire through their leaves, which contain
tiny pores called stomata that open and collect carbon dioxide molecules for photosynthesis. During that
process, they release water vapor. As carbon dioxide concentrations increase, the pores don't open as wide,
resulting in lower levels of transpiration by plants and thus increased water-use efficiency.
Specifically, research cited in the journal Environmental Economics and Policy Studies found:
atellite-based studies have yielded compelling evidence of stronger general growth effects than were
anticipated in the 1990s. Zhu et al (2016) published a comprehensive study on greening and human activity
from 1982 to 2009. The ratio of land areas that became greener, as opposed to browner, was approximately 9 to
1. The increase in atmospheric CO2 was just under 15% over the interval but was found to be responsible for
approximately 70% of the observed greening, followed by the deposition of airborne nitrogen compounds (9%)
from the combustion of coal and deflation of nitrate-containing agricultural fertilizers, lengthening growing
seasons (8%), and land cover changes (4%), mainly reforestation of regions such as southeastern North
America.
It is refreshing to see a major media outlet, like Bloomberg, publish some good news about crop production
amid the near-constant drumbeat of false "climate change-induced crop failure" stories put out by the
mainstream media.
One can only speculate why its writers ignored the firmly established roles that modest warming and more CO2
have played over the decades and continue to play in the increase in food production.
http://archive.today/2020.02.04-181350/https:/link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10018-020-00263-w
http://climatechangereconsidered.org/climate-change-reconsidered-ii-biological-impacts/
http://co2science.org/
http://www.co2science.org/
https://archive.ph/2024.08.27-151128/https:/www.nasa.gov/technology/nasa-study-rising-carbon-dioxide-levels-
will-help-and-hurt-crops/#selection-4999.0-4999.266
https://climatechangedispatch.com/another-report-confirms-co2-is-greening-the-earth-improving-crops/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/climate-expert-neither-climate-nor-climate-change-causes-fuels-or-
influences-weather/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/cnbc-claims-climate-change-hurting-cambodias-crops-its-not/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/ignore-the-climate-crisis-hype-humanity-is-thriving-thanks-to-fossil-fuels/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/media-fail-iowa-crops-setting-records-not-failing-amid-modest-warming/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/msn-pushes-rice-sugar-tomato-apocalypse-as-crops-set-records/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/study-past-global-greening-reacted-quickly-to-more-co2-in-the-air/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/wapo-pushes-phony-claim-that-climate-change-harming-african-crops/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/who-is-spearheading-the-global-war-on-agriculture-and-nutrition/
https://climatechangedispatch.com/wired-promotes-ipccs-phony-crop-disaster-as-harvests-set-records/
https://climaterealism.com/category/climate-change-impacts/crop-production/
https://humanprogress.org/a-break-in-the-weather-good-news-from-the-worlds-farms/
Loading Image...
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-08-14/food-costs-are-falling-as-farmers-help-slay-the-
inflation-dragon
https://www.fao.org/faostat/en/#compare
=====
August:
Snow In Wyoming And Colorado
August Snow Has U.S. Resorts Planning For Winter
Rare Snow And Century-Old Cold Records Fall In California
Rare August Chill Breaks Decades-Old Records
Rare August Snow For The Sierra Nevada
The Atlantic's Rapid Cooling
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand's South Island
Record Summer Chills Sweep The Great Lakes, Northeast, and Southern Canada
Where Are The Hurricanes? Another Crushing Defeat For Team Climate Change
Antarctica Registers -75.5C (-103.9F), Sea Ice Surges
Winter Far From Over In New Zealand
Historical "Heatwave Days" Show No Trend
Researchers Pumped Extra CO2 Into A Forest, And Biodiversity Thrived
Low Temperature Records Fall In U.S.
Frosts Persist In South America, Impacting Coffee Prices
Island Nations Like Tuvalu: Growing, Not Sinking
Record Cold Sweeps Brazil
Antarctica Back Below -70C (-94F)
Summer Snowfall at Khardungla Pass
Polar Bear And Arctic Sea Ice Lies Persist
Polar Fronts To Hit South America
Antarctic Sea Ice Extent Gains 1 Million Km2 In A Week
Frigid Winter Forecast For NH
Vast Cold Wave About To Sweep The U.S.
Greek Study Challenges CO2-Temperature Causality
Arctic Shipping Season Is Shortening
Rapid Antarctic Sea Ice Growth
Heavy Snow Hits New Zealand
Too Many Polar Bears In Greenland
British Farmers Paid To NOT Produce Food
Record July Cold Hits Scotland
Summer To Quit Early This Year
Remarkable Summer Gains On The Greenland Ice Sheet
Arctic Sea Ice Extent: No Cause For Alarm
$78 Trillion To Fight The Hoax of 'Climate Crisis'