Tech | October 24, 2011 | 18 comments

Crop scientists now concerned about heat not just water

source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/24/us-climate-crops-idUSTRE79N07420111024

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JanforGore
Scientists at an annual meeting of U.S. agronomists last week in San Antonio said the focus was climate change.

"Its impact on agriculture systems, impacts on crops, mitigation strategies with soil management -- a whole range of questions was being asked about climate change," said Jerry Hatfield, Laboratory Director at the National Soil Tilth Laboratory in Ames, Iowa.

"The biggest thing is high night-time temperatures have a negative impact on yield," Hatfield added, noting that the heat affects evaporation and the life process of the crops.

"One of the consequences of rising temperatures ... is to compress the life cycle of that plant. The other key consequence is that when the atmosphere gets warmer the atmospheric demand for water increases," Hatfield said.

"These are simple things that can occur and have tremendous consequences on our ability to produce a stable supply of food or feed or fiber," he said.

Boote at the University of Florida found that rice and sorghum plants failed to produce grain, something he calls "pollen viability," when the average 24-hour temperature is 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). That equates to highs of 104 F during the day and 86 F at night, he said.

The global seed industry has set a high bar to boost crop yields by 2050 to feed a hungry world. Scientists said that the impact of heat on plant growth needs more focus and study.

"If you look at a lot of crop insurance claims, farmers say it is the lack of water that caused the plant to die," said Wolfram Schlenker, assistant professor at Columbia University.

"But I think it's basically different sides of the same coin because the water requirement of the plant increases tremendously if it's hot," he said.

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18 comments // Crop scientists now concerned about heat not just water

  • JanforGore
    • 0
      JanforGore  

    • On a global scale, this could bring us more famine and is already bringing us higher food prices as well as water scarcity. The Russia heatwave in 2010 was a prime example of this corrolation between climate change and food.

    • 7 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • JanforGore:

      Agreed. Your post has exposed a very big fly in the ointment => REDUCTION OF CROP GROWTH EFFICIENCY. That being said, it doesn't appear to be slowing down weed growth much... so perhaps we need to switch away from tame crop dependence over to WEED DEPENDENCE INSTEAD.

      Kudzu powder is being sold from some online health food outlets, joining Purslane flakes => Purslane being extremely healthy for us, stuffed full of bio-active cell food bar none for human health. Many societies have been using Purslane already, across so many countries it has been given other names.

      If we wise th' heck up and start dropping back and punting ANSWERS FROM OUTSIDE THE BOX we could buy some time. So far we've failed to implement such a strategy, although it does appear the Italian chemist team will soon drive across the "Finish Line" later this month with COLD FUSION.

      Those Italian boys could be the Game Changer. They could save Big Oil's derrieres too. Ultimately tho Jan I could see where Cold Fusion + Oil could team up to = No more dependence on the Foreign Oil Cartels including Iraqui oil. If our Energy Czar Mr. Chu ever wakes up from his Rip Van Winkle impersonation.

      He needs to fire every cannon this ship has. IMHO. So far they had better weapons in Star Trek movies so I'm not holding my breath. Chu is becoming synonymous with Fail.

      Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail. Fail.

    • 7 months ago
  • totally_dilapidated
    • +1
      totally_dilapidated  

    • they all tried to tell you all back in the 60's
      the conservatives called them hippies and didn't listen
      it wasn't hippies
      it was scientists

      and now?
      we are already at: production = population

      production is not going to increase
      it's no longer science
      it's math...

    • 7 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  

    • What is particularly disturbing is that when temperatures get much over 80 degrees F many trees and plants stop photosynthesizing carbon dioxide into oxygen and begin to release C02 and VOCs!

    • 7 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  

    • What I have noticed as a gardener and farmer is that in the past decade--especially last summer--temperatures are not reaching the dew point at night.
      Dew is as important as rain for plants.

    • 7 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • +1
      Gravity_Man  

    • 3/4 of the world now has diabetes, with all that encompasses, heart disease, cancer, insulin resistance (inability to deal with high heat indexes). A massive die-off is presently in progress.

      Baby Boomers are flaking off at an increasing rate of speed PLUS their children are flaking off in their early 40's give or take given their allergies, asthma and heart infarctions happening AROUND THE CLOCK. I FORESEE PLENTY OF FOOD, lots of nice unused used cars!!! Lots of nice homes with little wear, carpet still in great shape.

      Plenty of clean water since less people ='s less combustion engines and combustion/nuclear wastes, less hog/cow poop, less pesticides and fertilizers.

      With or witrhout a Bible "Armageddon" STILL CLEAR SAILING, with a valuable added benefit of less of those blasted over-competitive Japanese and Indonesians around. India is likely a write-off also. China isn't a problem because they're collapsing under their own stagnant weight soon.

    • 7 months ago
  • good_stuff
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • good_stuff:

      Nope. What was proved here is phishing for trout really works by exaggerating the numbers suffering a disease (you have contempt for #1) and further (#2) exposing you have an Achilles heel where your ignorance of Armageddon is concerned. I phished, you took every hook. Now, run along and call someone else names.

    • 7 months ago
  • letsliveinpeace
  • JanforGore
  • JanforGore
    • +2
      JanforGore  

    • "The global seed industry has set a high bar to boost crop yields by 2050 to feed a hungry world. Scientists said that the impact of heat on plant growth needs more focus and study."

      And this will not be achieved through GMOS and the biopiracy of natural traits by companies such as Monsanto which are only using climate change as an excuse to profit. We need to look to natural traits in plants that resist drastic climate changes and start bringing our systems back from the fossil fuel nitrogen fertilizer intensive agricultural model we now employ.This model has only served to strip our soil, exacerbate climate change, threaten biodiversity and toxify our waterways with pollutants and eutrophication. Sustainable agriculture (which Monsanto isn't even CLOSE to) employing methods such as agroecology and permaculture which sequester carbon in the soil and retain nutrients to increase yield is the key to solving the problems of feeding a hungry more crowded world. Seeds cannot be kept in the ownership of just a few multinational corporations that restrict replanting and seed saving and hold farmers to agreements that deny food sovereignty, especially in the developing world.The challenges we face regarding the corrolation between climate change and food which we are already seeing play out globally cannot be solved with just a profit motive.

    • 7 months ago
  • ABarackBooster
  • coolplanet
    • +2
      coolplanet  
    • ABarackBooster:

      For the past five or more years the first frost has been a month late here in SW PA.
      Only half the trees have changed color and I still have tropical plants like banana and taro thriving in my back yard.
      This is a climate meltdown!

    • 7 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • coolplanet:

      But shouldn't that give you two growing seasons per year? Each might produce Less but you should still see More. Smaller bananas but more of them. Less bean length but more beans and so on.

      Now all YOU hafta do is grow smaller also!

    • 7 months ago
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • coolplanet:

      As for Income, soon you'll be able to branch out into Beach volleyballs, big hats (sombreros), paunchos, Burritos, Mustachio nuts, greenhouse supplies, Solar Cooker Sales. You're Rich You're Rich You're Rich You're Rich You're Rich.

    • 7 months ago
  • coolplanet
    • 0
      coolplanet  
    • Gravity_Man:

      Most vegetables stop producing in early September when the days get shorter and the nights get colder. I still have tomato, bean, pepper, squash, strawberry, and basil bushes looking great but they stopped yielding in mid-September.
      So what good is an extended growing season when all you get is a pretty plant?

    • 7 months ago
  • coolplanet
  • Gravity_Man
    • 0
      Gravity_Man  
    • coolplanet:

      Well, you need some big mirrors to increase afternoon sunlight over into the fields... to give them a last-minute energy bump to last longer into the evening. Tell ya what. Do as I instruct. Put down the $600.00 online to change your last name to Banker.

      You'll have the world eating at your feet, begging to loan you the start-up capital you need to get bigger Fall squash.

    • 7 months ago
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