It has long been thought that climate change could enhance crop growth through the fertilizing effects of carbon dioxide. But recent research conducted by Stephen Long, a professor of crop sciences at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, indicates that any gains from CO2 fertilization will be offset by damage to plants from higher temperatures, increases in atmospheric ozone, and the greater efficiency of crop pests in a CO2-enriched world. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, Long, who recently received a $25 million research grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, talks about the impacts of climate change on some of the world’s key crops, the challenge of boosting crop yields to meet the demands of a burgeoning human population, and how tinkering with the genes involved in photosynthesis may provide the solution scientists are seeking.
Interview: Probing Impact of Warming on World Food Supply
More From E360
-
OPINION
Trump’s Logging Push Thrusts a Dagger at the Heart of Wilderness
-
INTERVIEW
Pakistan’s Solar Revolution Is Bringing Power to the People
-
Food & Agriculture
In Uganda, Deadly Landslides Force an Agricultural Reckoning
-
Energy
Why U.S. Geothermal May Advance, Despite Political Headwinds
-
Food & Agriculture
In War Zones, a Race to Save Key Seeds Needed to Feed the World
-
Climate
Lightning Strikes the Arctic: What Will It Mean for the Far North?
-
RIVERS
A Win for Farmers and Tribes Brings New Hope to the Klamath
-
Solutions
Deconstructing Buildings: The Quest for New Life for Old Wood
-
NATURAL DEFENSES
How Restored Wetlands Can Protect Europe from Russian Invasion
-
Solutions
Birds vs. Wind Turbines: New Research Aims to Prevent Deaths
-
Biodiversity
Cambodian Forest Defenders at Risk for Exposing Illegal Logging
-
OPINION
The ‘Green’ Aviation Fuel That Would Increase Carbon Emissions