climate change

Obama administration officials and corporate leaders who produced a report on the potential impact of climate change on the economy met at the White House on Wednesday.

Half of the forest species - trees, shrubs, palms and bamboo - routinely used by countries around the world are threatened by climate change, over-exploitation and encroachment by pastures and farmland, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization.

The two largest U.S. farm groups hold widely divergent views on the EPA proposal to reduce carbon dioxide emissions from power plants by 30 percent in coming years.

Food production could shrink by 2 percent per decade for the rest of the century, pulled down by higher temperatures, shifts in rainfall and natural disaster, says a report by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. It calls on the United States to include climate change activities in international agriculture development efforts.

Most people don't comprehend fully the recent U.N. climate change report because its language is not as clear as it could be in describing what to expect, say researchers. They suggest the International Panel on Climate Change should use percentages to express its conclusions rather than wording such as "likely" or "about as likely as not" or "virtually certain."

U.S. farmers will face more dry spells, shorter winters and hotter nights under climate change in coming decades, says the National Climate Assessment. Warmer weather can abet the spread of weeds, diseases and pests, says the report.

The government should give farmers a discount on crop insurance premiums if they plant cover crops or use no-till practices, said Claire O'Connor of the Natural Resources Defense Council during a teleconference on climate change. She said it would encourage practices that reduce greenhouse gas emissions and also protect soil and water quality.

The executive summary of a European study, "Nitrogen on the Table," says if Europe reduced its meat consumption, it "would reduce nitrogen air and water pollution, and greenhouse gas emissions, while freeing up large areas of farmland for other purposes such as food export or bioenergy."

On Earth Day, AgSec Vilsack announced in Des Moines that USDA awarded $6 million to 10 universities to study the effects of climate change on agricultural production and to develop responses to them.

President Obama says agricultural biotechnology is an important element in feeding the world and adapting to climate change. In a letter to the granddaughter of Nobel laureate Norman Borlaug, the president said...

The U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization says greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture, forestry and fisheries "have nearly doubled over the past 50 years and could increase an additional 30% by 2050," says Feedstuffs.

The durable Thomas Malthus, who helped economics gain its nickname of the dismal science with his belief population growth would forever strain the food supply, takes a cameo role as the New York Times'...

Says a story at Feedstuffs, "The U.S. National Academy of Sciences (NAS) and the Royal Society, the national science academy of the U.K., released a joint publication Feb. 27 in Washington, D.C., that...

In FERN’s latest story, published with Switchyard Magazine, reporter Robert Kunzig takes us to the upper Mississippi River Delta, where the idea of growing more fruits and vegetables — to ease the burden on California in the climate-change era — is taking root.