a new study shows that over the last century and a half, North American wheat crops spread into regions with even wider temperature and precipitation differences than will arise over the next century. This analysis suggests it will be possible to adapt to new wheat-growing conditions.
“As global change takes place, adaptation will help solve some of the problems that are created. Scientists and farmers are not going to roll over and not do anything,” said economist Alan Olmstead of the University of California, Davis, who carried out the analysis with economist Paul Rhode of the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. “When we look at how great the adaptations were in the past, it gives us a sense of what might be achieved in the future.”
The pair used a county-by-country record of wheat production in North America from 1839 to 2007 to document how wheat-growing conditions changed over time. They found that in 2007 the median annual temperature norm for areas of wheat production was 3.7 degrees Celsius (6.6 degrees Fahrenheit) colder than in 1839, and that average precipitation was halved.
The geographic center of wheat production in 1839 was in eastern Ohio. In 2007, it was in west-central South Dakota, the authors said in their paper, published today in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Farmers grew 26 times more wheat in the United States in 2009 than in 1939, and 270 times more in Canada.
“Wheat moved much farther west. It moved farther north and it moved into much harsher climates — drier and colder,” Rhode said.
http://news.discovery.com/earth/wheat-climate-change-agriculture-101227.html
I call these anti-global warming good stories…
We need a lot more of them
There are a bunch of bed wetters out there that really do believe
Wheat is a cereal GRASS. This day and age we can grow grass (practically) anywhere.
Nice cherry pick.
You missed out the bit about breeders having adapt to new growing conditions. The Wheat isn’t doing it without intervention.
You also missed out that this is only talking about North America and it will be more difficult for other parts of the world.
Laz, the thrust of the story is about food sources and mankind’s ability to adapt to a perceived threat. Yes, wheat has been significantly altered. Doesn’t that speak more to our adaptability? Yes, it would be more difficult in other parts of the world. But the same is true, today.
I agree, which is exactly why I pointed out that the title of the post and the quotes used say nothing about wheat being unaffected or climate change being imaginary.
He also missed out that grain crops have been cross breed to find the best qualities for many thousand years so have been with humans since they started agriculture. That proves grain crops of many types are extremely versatile and if one does not do well under certain conditions others will step in and replace it.
It was a nice cherry pick by the authors as it only covered one crop with many varieties.
Laz, are you aware that there are thousands of different varieties of wheat? And that they do not all grow at the same place or under the same conditions?
It won’t be “more difficult” for different parts of the world, it will be exactly the same as it is right now.
And are you aware that the weather is not the same every year?
People will do exactly what they are doing right now. They will guess, and try to grow varieties that they think they can make a profit from.
“It won’t be “more difficult” for different parts of the world, it will be exactly the same as it is right now.”
Of course it will be more difficult. The article explicitly says so. Wheat can’t grow in all conditions no matter how many varieties we have and there may be different parts of the world that wont be able to grow it, that currently can.
You forget that there’s different wheat for different consumers.
For instance growing wheat for fodder to animal you don’t need to worry about it having to be the same quality as for wheat that goes to human consumptions, simply put you can get an extra harvest from the same patch of land per year or get a harvest from an otherwise substandard patch of field, or like is pointed out grow it in less then stellar places. Now with wheat going to the “green gas” industry as well, which requires less quality than for animal consumption, the growing will probably creep up another latitude as well.
The adaptable nature of wheat may come to mean more than some think. A report back in 2003 by some respected futurists says we are at the cusp of going from warmer climate to the beginning of an extended cold spell. here is a link to the report:
http://www.climate.org/PDF/clim_change_scenario.pdf
the report is about an abrupt climate change. if you believe this may occur or wish to explore it with a group go to the Abrupt Climate Change group on yahoo. a link to that:
http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/abruptclimatechange/
we may need all the help we can get to feed everyone who survives if this comes to be. yay wheat! way to go…
So at least if there’s a famine, we can eat bread. Yumm. Haha. I understand the point of the adaptability of humans, but I’m not a vegetarian or a breaditarian. I’m a meatitarian. (Yes, I know I made up those words.) So unless we can make livestock more adaptable, we might have a bit of a problem. What is promising to me is that white-tailed deer are found in nearly every state in the US, making it a very adaptable and wide-spread animal. Perhaps in the future, it will be a new form a livestock.
Erin, while I appreciate your taste,(venison is yummy!) I’m pretty sure you can figure out that if we can grow wheat, odds are, our livestock will be ok also. The requisite fences would be unimaginable if white-tail were to replace cattle as a food source.
Yes. I’m sure we will be fine. But livestock is something we have to think about since we have a number of different subspecies of wheat that we harvest, but we only harvest a few breeds subspecies of most of our livestock, with some only having one subspecies. And even if white-tail were domesticated as livestock, I would never expect it to replace cattle, just supplement it.