Higher Temperatures to Slow Asian Rice Production

Production of rice -- the world's most important crop for ensuring food security and addressing poverty -- will be thwarted as temperatures increase in rice-growing areas with continued climate change, according to a new study by an international team of scientists.

"We found that as the daily minimum temperature increases, or as nights get hotter, rice yields drop," said Jarrod Welch, lead author of the report and graduate student of economics at the University of California, San Diego.

"Farmers can be expected to adapt to changing conditions, so real-world circumstances, and therefore outcomes, might differ from those in controlled experimental settings," he added.

By Rex Graham

For more information:

http://ucsdnews.ucsd.edu/newsrel/general/08-06HigherTemperatures.asp