Nearly a tenth of cereal crops were wiped out by droughts and heat waves between 1964 and 2007, according to a UBC study featured on Accuweather.
The researchers studied crop data and weather disaster reports and estimated that more than three billion tons of cereal crops were lost between 1964 and 2007 due to droughts and heat waves.
“Our estimate is that every drought or extreme heat event reduces current cereal production by roughly 9-10 percent,” said author and UBC professor Navin Ramankutty. “In the future, it is anticipated that, with climate change, we will have more extreme heat events and potentially more droughts as well [although the latter is a bit more controversial].”
