GLOBAL warming will increase the amount of land suitable for growing crops by about 16 per cent, according to a computer model that tracks predicted changes in temperature, day length and rainfall.
But that’s not necessarily good news, says Jonathan Foley, at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, who led the modelling team. Their results suggest that while northern Canada and Russia will benefit most, Africa and Central America will lose out (Global Ecology & Biogeography, vol 11, p 377). “It’s very disturbing that the worst effects will be in the tropics, where the poorest of the poor already live,” says Foley.…
