climate change

Nutrient runoff is a growing problem in many parts of the United States but researchers from the University of Rhode Island say beavers could be an ally in reducing nitrogen runoff that can lead to low-oxygen "dead zones,” says the American Society of Agronomy.

Water temperatures in the Chesapeake Bay are rising by 1.2 degrees per decade, with some "hot spots" such as Baltimore warming more rapidly than that, says the Baltimore Sun in summarizing a University of Maryland study.

Food security and agriculture should be at the center of the debate at the UN climate change conference later this year, said the head of FAO and the French agriculture minister. "We believe that agriculture in the broad sense - including forestry, fisheries and aquaculture - can and must play a central role in addressing climate change, particularly in adapting its impacts, such as water scarcity, soil salinity or increasing pests and diseases of plants and animals," said FAO director general Graziano da Silva.

Ten of the largest food companies in the world urged a global agreement on clear and achievable targets for the reduction of greenhouse-gas emissions, said the Guardian.

Native to North America, sunflowers are the second-most widely grown seed crop in the world, says Modern Farmer, so it's logical for researchers Laura Marek and Gerald Seiler to scour the country for the hardiest of the wild plants. With climate change forecast to affect agricultural production, "the wild genetic material that breeders need to adapt the crop for future uncertainty is found almost exclusively on our soil," writes Nelson Harvey in a story produced in partnership with FERN.

In a speech to a joint meeting of Congress, Pope Francis said the United States must play an important role in mitigating climate change.

The global seed bank built into an Arctic mountainside has approved the first withdrawal from its vaults, to help a research agency displaced by civil war in Syria, says Reuters.

General Mills, one of the world’s largest food companies, announced plans to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by 28 percent by 2025.

Researchers say global climate change added 8 to 27 percent of the severity of the ongoing drought in California, said the Los Angeles Times, citing a study in the journal Geophysical Research Letters.

Global Footprint Network, a sustainability think tank, calculates that today is Earth Overshoot Day, "when humanity’s annual demand on nature exceeds what Earth can regenerate in that year."

Thirteen of the largest U.S. companies "are joining President Obama" to push "a slew of policies meant to curb the effects of climate change," said The Hill newspaper.

There is evidence that bumblebees, a wild pollinator of crops and wildflowers, "are getting squeezed by our planet's changing climate," says the NPR blog The Salt.

Wheat scientists say new, higher-yielding varieties are needed to meet rising world demand for food and to offset the impact of climate change. The food grain provides 20 percent of the calories and protein consumed worldwide.

In the 30-mile long Zanskar Valley in the Himalayas of northwestern India, the warming climate has lengthened the growing season, giving farmers in the village of Stongde a welcome additional month before the killing frost that heralds alpine winter.

Lockheed Martin, "the world's largest defense contractor," has launched a series of series of initiatives tied to climate change as a potential threat to national security," reports the Washington Post.

Researchers at the Philippine Rice Research Institute have identified 25 new breeding lines of rice that tolerate higher temperatures than are considered ideal for current varieties.

The same threats that climate change poses for farmers -- floods and severe storms -- "are also highlighting the vulnerability of food distribution systems," says Earth Island Journal in a story developed in partnership with The Food & Environment Reporting Network.

Stanford scientists say the risk of drought in California is being increased by climate change caused by human activity, reports the Contra Costa Times.