World Grain - January 2019 - 6

FROM THE EDITOR

A time for action against
climate change

s the science weighs more heavily
toward a consensus that a) climate
change is a real phenomenon and
b) human-generated carbon emissions
are playing at least a part in causing
more volatile weather patterns, it is
critical that the global agricultural community combat this phenomenon, to the
extent that it can.
The World Bank Group on Dec. 4
took a leading role by doubling its curUHQW ¿YH\HDU LQYHVWPHQWV WR DURXQG
$200 billion in support for countries to
take climate action. As part of this initiaWLYH LW ZLOO EH ¿QDQFLQJ FOLPDWHVPDUW
agriculture investments in 20 countries.
Examples of climate-smart agriculture
projects already sponsored by the World
Bank include: in China, where better
ZDWHUXVH HI¿FLHQF\ DQG QHZ WHFKQROogy have improved soil conditions on
44,000 hectares of farmland; in Mexico,
where 1,165 small and medium agribusinesses have adopted environmentally sustainable energy technologies,
reducing carbon dioxide emissions by
3.3 million tonnes (agriculture generates 19% to 29% of total greenhouse gas
emissions); and in Senegal, where seven new high-yielding, early-maturing
drought resistant varieties of sorghum
and millet have been developed.
While virtually all of the world's
major grain-producing regions are affected by climate change, perhaps no
country has been affected more than
Australia, the world's fourth largest
wheat exporter.
On the same day that the World Bank
announced its initiative, the Australian
Bureau of Agricultural and Resource
Economics and Sciences (ABARES)
issued a dire forecast for that country's
grain crop in 2018-19, estimating a 23%
drop in production compared to last
year. That includes a 20% drop in wheat
production, to 17 million tonnes, the
lowest total since 2008-09's disastrous,
drought-ravaged
13.6-million-tonne
6

crop. According to the Commonwealth
6FLHQWL¿FDQG,QGXVWULDO5HVHDUFK2UJDQL]DWLRQ &6,52 VLQFH WKH EHJLQQLQJ
of the 20th century, Australia has experienced an increase of nearly 1 degree
Celsius in average annual temperatures,
with warming occurring twice the rate
over the past 50 years than in the previous 50 years.
The outlook is ominous in other hotEHGV RI JUDLQ SURGXFWLRQ DV ZHOO ,Q
WKH3RWVGDP,QVWLWXWHIRU&OLPDWH
,PSDFW 5HVHDUFK UHOHDVHG D UHSRUW WKDW
said that in the United States higher temperatures may cut the wheat harvest by
20% by the end of the century without
HI¿FLHQW FDUERQ UHGXFWLRQV (YHQ PRUH
alarming, the study found that yield reduction could reach 40% for soybeans
and nearly 50% for corn.
"By the end of the century" may make
this threat seem distant, but most scientists believe the impact already is being
felt and will continue to grow in intensity over the next several decades. The
,QWHUQDWLRQDO )RRG 3ROLF\ 5HVHDUFK ,Qstitute, for instance, said climate change
will put an additional 70 million people
at risk of hunger in 2050.
That is why every weapon in our arsenal must be utilized, whether it involves
reducing carbon emissions, utilizing
LUULJDWLRQ V\VWHPV PRUH HI¿FLHQWO\ GHveloping seeds that grow better in adverse weather conditions, or changing
the types of crops that are grown in certain regions.
Action must be
taken by every government, farmer, grain
processor, food producer and individual
to mitigate the impact
of climate change and
ensure that these grave forecasts don't
come to fruition.
Arvin Donley
Editor

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Fengcheng Wang
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WORLD GRAIN (ISSN 0745-8991) Volume 37, issue 1,

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World Grain - January 2019

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