Miller Magazine Issue: 118 October 2019

The effects of climate change on wheat production We’re facing the biggest environmental challenge our species has ever seen. Unprecedented floods, droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, and superstorms all over the world are the face of climate change. It is dis- rupting national economies and affecting lives, costing people, com- munities, and countries dearly today. And climate change is expected to have extremely striking results. A research announced last month once again showed us that a qu- ick and determined response to this threat is needed. In their study published in the journal Science Advances, researchers from several institutions including IIASA, the Global Change Research Institute in the Czech Republic, and the University of Arkansas in the US, de- veloped a method to simultaneously quantify severe water shortages across the world’s entire wheat-growing area and calculate the pro- babilities of multiple or sequential severe water shortage events for baseline and future climates. Their projections show that, without cli- mate change mitigation, up to 60% of the current wheat-growing area will face simultaneous severe water shortage events by the end of this century, compared to 15% today. In other words, droughts caused by global warming could devastate up to 60% of the world’s wheat fields by the end of the century, causing food shortages and instability. Even if the world manages to limit warming to 2 degrees Celsius, the negative effects would still double between 2041 and 2070, the report said.“If only one country or region experiences a drought there is less impact. If multiple regions are however affected simultaneously, it can affect global production and food prices, and lead to food insecurity,” explain study lead authors Miroslav Trnka, a professor at Mendel Uni- versity and senior scientist at the Global Change Research Institute. The world must prepare for “unprecedented” shocks to the production of the crop, a staple food in many countries, climate scientist said. Given the world’s dependence on wheat to provide for our daily nut- ritional needs, an increase in the severity and frequency of droughts in wheat producing areas presents a significant risk in terms of food insecurity. editor Namık Kemal PARLAK company/miller-magazine millermagazine MillerMagazine Parantez Publishing and Congress Ltd. Gökevler Mah. 2312 Sok. No:16/37 Ginza Corner Plaza, Esenyurt / İstanbul - TURKEY T. +90 212 347 31 64 F. +90 212 212 02 04 www.millermagazine.com info@millermagazine.com On Behalf of Parantez Publishing and Congress Ltd., Owner Zübeyde Kavraz Responsible Manager Muhammed Akatay Editor-in-Chief Namık Kemal Parlak Editors Mustafa Yağmurlu Cemalettin Kanaş Sales and Marketing Özlem Buyruk Inji Aydash Burcu Çetin İlknur Durmaz Art Director and Visual Design Alparslan Murat Aysu Corporate Communication Executive Derya Gülsoy Yıldız Consultancy Board Derviş Toprak Ergin Ünver Mehmet Şerif Gültay Zafer Ergezen Referee and Scientific Advisory Board Prof.Dr. Mustafa Bayram Prof. Gustavo Sosa Prof.Dr. Hazım Özkaya Asst. Prof. M. Kürşat Demir Asst. Prof. Halef Dizlek Asst. Prof. Harun Dıraman Asst. Prof. Mustafa Erbaş Publication Type Periodic (Monthly) Printing - Baskı İhlas Gazetecilik A.Ş. Merkez Mah. 29 Ekim Cad. No: 11 A 41 Yenibosna-Bahçelievler-İstanbul Tel: 0212 454 30 00 All copyrights belong to Parantez Publishing. © May not be used without permission. Responsibility of the ads belongs to the advertisers. ISSN 1309-6125 Copyright Page