Published in ERW, 12 May 2016
An analysis of global crop yields over the past three decades has shown that yield variability decreased over a larger area of cropland than the area over which it rose.
Researchers from Japan and Canada found that less than a quarter of harvested areas saw an increase in yield variability while up to a third saw a decrease, with roughly one-fifth to one-half of the changes attributable to climate change.
Toshichika Iizumi at Japan’s National Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences and Navin Ramankutty from the University of British Columbia in Canada believe that the main downward trend in variability can be put down to investments in irrigation facilities and crop varieties that are more tolerant of extreme conditions. And they recommend that these investments continue. […]
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