Sep 3, 2025 08:18 PM
https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/1096519
INTRO: From corn chips to tofu, climate change is messing with the menu.
A new global study led by the University of British Columbia shows that hotter and drier conditions are making food production more volatile, with crop yields swinging more sharply from year to year. For some, it may mean pricier burgers; for others, it can bring financial strain and hunger.
Published today in Science Advances, the study is the first to show at a global scale how climate change is affecting yield swings of three of the world’s most important food crops: corn, soybean and sorghum. For every degree of warming, year-to-year variability in yields rises by seven per cent for corn, 19 per cent for soybeans and 10 per cent for sorghum.
While previous research has focused on climate-driven declines in average yields, this study highlights a compounding danger: instability. For many farmers, those swings aren’t abstract. They’re the difference between getting by and going under.
“Farmers and the societies they feed don’t live off of averages—they generally live off of what they harvest each year,” said Dr. Jonathan Proctor, an assistant professor at UBC’s faculty of land and food systems and the study’s lead author. “A big shock in one bad year can mean real hardship, especially in places without sufficient access to crop insurance or food storage.” (MORE - details, no ads)
INTRO: From corn chips to tofu, climate change is messing with the menu.
A new global study led by the University of British Columbia shows that hotter and drier conditions are making food production more volatile, with crop yields swinging more sharply from year to year. For some, it may mean pricier burgers; for others, it can bring financial strain and hunger.
Published today in Science Advances, the study is the first to show at a global scale how climate change is affecting yield swings of three of the world’s most important food crops: corn, soybean and sorghum. For every degree of warming, year-to-year variability in yields rises by seven per cent for corn, 19 per cent for soybeans and 10 per cent for sorghum.
While previous research has focused on climate-driven declines in average yields, this study highlights a compounding danger: instability. For many farmers, those swings aren’t abstract. They’re the difference between getting by and going under.
“Farmers and the societies they feed don’t live off of averages—they generally live off of what they harvest each year,” said Dr. Jonathan Proctor, an assistant professor at UBC’s faculty of land and food systems and the study’s lead author. “A big shock in one bad year can mean real hardship, especially in places without sufficient access to crop insurance or food storage.” (MORE - details, no ads)