Climate Change Threatens Global Food Supply

"On the food supply, the new report finds that benefits from global warming may be seen in some areas, such as northern lands that are now marginal for food production," writes Justin Gillis. "But it added that over all, climate change could reduce agricultural output by as much as 2 percent per decade for the rest of this century, compared with what output would be without climate change."

"During that period, demand is expected to rise as much as 14 percent each decade, the report found, as billions of people in developing countries acquire the money to eat richer diets," he adds. "Rising food prices would likely hit the world’s poor hardest, as has already occurred from sharp price increases of recent years — spikes caused to a large extent by certain types of weather extremes, like severe heat waves, that have been linked to climate change."