Warming World Will Need to Farm a Whole New Egypt to Feed Itself
Scientists say trade rules would have to loosen to balance food and water security with the needs of a growing population.
Corn being loaded at the Michlig Grain LLC elevator in Sheffield, Illinois.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergAgricultural commodity traders will be among the winners as global temperatures warm so long as policy makers ease trade rules to allow them to adapt the food supply to climate change.
That’s the conclusion of a group of American and European climate scientists and resource economists who studied how higher temperatures will impact food and water supplies. Over the next three decades, a hotter environment means international trading volumes for grains including wheat, corn and rice will rise as much as a fifth, with landmass the size of Egypt entering new cultivation, according to their report published this week.