How is CO2 affecting yields and technological progress? A statistical analysis

This paper analyzes the impact of climate, crop production technology, and atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) on current and future crop yields. The analysis of crop yields endeavors to advance the literature by estimating the effect of atmospheric CO₂ on observed crop yields. This is done using an econometric model estimated over pooled historical data for 1950–2009 and data from the free air CO₂ enrichment experiments. The main econometric findings are: 1) Yields of C3 crops (soybeans, cotton, and wheat) directly respond to the elevated CO₂, while yields of C4 crops (corn and sorghum) do not, but they are found to indirectly benefit from elevated CO₂ in times and places of drought stress; 2) The effect of technological progress on mean yields is non-linear; 3) Ignoring atmospheric CO₂ in an econometric model of crop yield likely leads to overestimates of the pure effects of technological progress on crop yields of about 51, 15, 17, 9, and 1 % of observed yield gain for cotton, soybeans, wheat, corn and sorghum, respectively; 4) Average climate conditions and climate variability contribute in a statistically significant way to average crop yields and their variability; and 5) The effect of CO₂ fertilization generally outweighs the effect of climate change on mean crop yields in many regions resulting in an increase of 7–22, 4–47, 5–26, 65–96, and 3–35 % for yields of corn, sorghum, soybeans, cotton, and wheat, respectively.     

棉铃虫种群消长及影响因子

耕作制度的改变,为棉铃虫种群数量上升提供了良好的食物源和生态环境;大面积使用化学农药,不仅削弱了天敌的控害作用,也提高了棉铃虫的抗药性;气候变暖,适宜于棉铃虫数量上升。因此,棉铃虫种群增加,棉花、玉米、小麦、豆类、瓜菜等受害也明显加重。要控制棉铃虫的发生程度,首先要防治棉田外一代幼虫和卵,减少一代种群数量;对二代棉铃虫,宜有选择地使用化学农药和生物农药进行防治,并充分发挥天敌的自然控制力,以减少种群数量;三代、四代棉铃虫主要危害作物繁殖器官,直接影响作物的产量和品质,以物理诱杀和玉米诱集带集中诱杀为主,既可控制其危害,又对其天敌无负面影响;五代棉铃虫虽对当年作物产量影响不大,但其种群数量直接影响下一年一代发生量,因此应及时喷施病毒类等生物性药剂,降低其越冬种群,同时也保护自然天敌安全越冬。     

US agricultural sector analysis on pesticide externalities – the impact of climate change and a Pigovian tax

Residuals from agricultural pesticides threaten the environment and human health. Climate change alters these externalities because it affects pest pressure and pesticide application rates. This study examines damages from pesticide externalities in US agriculture under different climate projections and the effects of alternative regulations. We find divergent impacts of externality regulation and climate change on agricultural production in the US. A Pigovian tax on pesticide externalities generally increases crop production cost, but farm revenue improves because of increased commodity prices. Climate change generally decreases US farm revenue because production increases and prices fall. Results also show a heterogeneous effect of climate change on pest management intensities across major crops.     

1971—2010年气候变化对河南省主要作物需水量的影响

以小麦、玉米、棉花、花生等主要农作物为研究对象,选取河南省12个气象站点1971—2010年的气象资料,采用联合国粮农组织（FAO）推荐的Penman-Monteith公式计算参考作物生育期内需水量,分析其生育期需水量变化规律.结果表明：河南省多个地区需水量的年内分布,都在6月达到全年的最高值,在11或12月降至全年的最低值;需水量最大的是棉花,其次是小麦、花生和玉米;近40年,棉花、小麦、花生和玉米的需水量都表现为减少趋势.通过分析各气象因子与需水量的相关性发现：平均风速与作物需水量显著正相关,由于平均风速大幅下降,从而在很大程度上抵消了因其他气象因子变化引起的需水量增加趋势,造成主要作物生育期需水量的减少.     

Crop yield response to economic, site and climatic variables

This paper examines the effects of climatic and non-climatic factors on the mean and variance of corn, soybean and winter wheat yield in southwestern Ontario, Canada over a period of 26 years. Average crop yields increase at a decreasing rate with the quantity of inputs used, and decrease with the area planted to the crop. Climate variables have a major impact on mean yield with the length of the growing season being the primary determinant across all three crops. Increases in the variability of temperature and precipitation decrease mean yield and increase its variance. Yield variance is poorly explained by both seasonal and monthly climate variable models. Projections of future climate change suggest that average crop yield will increase with warmer temperatures and a longer growing season which is only partially offset by forecast increases in the variability of temperature and rainfall. The projections would also depend on future technological developments, which have generated significant increases in yield over time despite changing annual weather conditions.     

Climate Change Impacts on the Potential Productivity of Corn and Winter Wheat in Their Primary United States Growing Regions

We calculate the impacts of climate effects inferred from three atmospheric general circulation models (GCMs) at three levels of climate change severity associated with change in global mean temperature (GMT) of 1.0, 2.5 and 5.0 °C and three levels of atmospheric CO2 concentration ([CO2]) – 365 (no CO2 fertilization effect), 560 and 750 ppm – on the potential production of dryland winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and corn (Zea mays L.) for the primary (current) U.S. growing regions of each crop. This analysis is a subset of the Global Change Assessment Model (GCAM) which has the goal of integrating the linkages and feedbacks among human activities and resulting greenhouse gas emissions, changes in atmospheric composition and resulting climate change, and impacts on terrestrial systems. A set of representative farms was designed for each of the primary production regions studied and the Erosion Productivity Impact Calculator (EPIC) was used to simulate crop response to climate change. The GCMs applied were the Goddard Institute of Space Studies (GISS), the United Kingdom Meteorological Transient (UKTR) and the Australian Bureau of Meteorological Research Center (BMRC), each regionalized by means of a scenario generator (SCENGEN). The GISS scenarios have the least impact on corn and wheat production, reducing national potential production for corn by 6% and wheat by 7% at a GMT of 2.5 °C and no CO2 fertilization effect; the UKTR scenario had the most severe impact on wheat, reducing production by 18% under the same conditions; BMRC had the greatest negative impact on corn, reducing production by 20%. A GMT increase of 1.0°C marginally decreased corn and wheat production. Increasing GMT had a detrimental impact on both corn and wheat production, with wheat production suffering the greatest losses. Decreases for wheat production at GMT 5.0 and [CO2] = 365 ppm range from 36% for the GISS to 76% for the UKTR scenario. Increases in atmospheric [CO2] had a positive impact on both corn and wheat production. AT GMT 1.0, an increase in [CO2] to 560 ppm resulted in a net increase in corn and wheat production above baseline levels (from 18 to 29% for wheat and 2 to 5% for corn). Increases in [CO2] help to offset yield reductions at higher GMT levels; in most cases, however, these increases are not sufficient to return crop production to baseline levels.     

The impact of climate change on continuous corn production in the Southern U.S.A.

The Goddard Institute for Space Studies (GISS) General Circulation Model (GCM) has been used in conjunction with a field level plant process model (CERES-Maize) and a field level pesticide transport model (PRZM) to study the impacts of doubled levels of atmospheric CO₂ on various aspects of corn production in the Southern U.S.A. Grid-box scale GCM output has been applied to a 38-year time series of historical weather data at 28 different locations for several typical soil profiles throughout the South. Limitations on the use of the climate scenario in conjunction with the process models are discussed. Major shortcomings include: 1) no direct impacts of atmospheric CO₂ on plant growth and development in the plant process model; 2) neither macro-pore solute transport nor chemical decay rate response to temperature are included in the pesticide transport model; and 3) the climate change scenario output does not provide information concerning changes in temperature extremes and variability or precipitation frequency, intensity or duration. The latter are particularly critical parameters for the detailed simulation of hydrological processes. In spite of these omissions, the combination of the three models facilitates the study of the impacts of GCM modeled climate change on several inter-related agro-climatic issues of interest to agricultural policy makers. These issues include: changes in dryland and irrigated corn yields; changes in sowing and harvest dates; modification of crop water demand; and estimates of effects on pesticide losses from the soil surface and through leaching from the bottom of the active corn root zone. Model generated results which address these issues are presented but must be used with caution in light of the GCM and process model limitations. The results of this study suggest that substantial changes in agricultural production and management practices may be needed to respond to the climate changes expected to take place throughout the Southern U.S.A.     

Sequestering of Atmospheric Carbon through Permanent Disposal of Crop Residue

We propose the sequestering of crop residues to capture a significant fraction(12%) of the present U.S. atmosphericcarbon emission through disposal in deep oceans below the thermocline or inriver deltas. In the United States, theannual carbon content in residues from corn, soybeans and wheat crops isapproximately 250 million tonnes. Globally, an additional 1 billion tonnes of carbon in the form of cropresidues may be available. Implementation ofthis sequestering proposal would allow the US to approach the CO₂reductions stipulated under the KyotoProtocol.     

气候变化背景下麦田沟金针虫爆发性发生为害

近年华北地区大面积推行保护性耕作措施和作物秸秆粉碎还田,冬小麦与夏玉米一年两熟连续轮作种植,为沟金针虫创造了有利的取食和栖息环境。地处华北北部的中国气象局固城农业气象野外科学试验基地2018—2019年秋季、冬季、春季气温出现了冷暖交替,尤其最低气温显著偏高,诱发麦田沟金针虫爆发性发生为害。据春季麦田挖土调查,虫口密度最高达144头·m-2,虫口重量最重达18.764 g·m-2。58个调查点达防治指标5头·m-2占98.27%。拔节-收获期调查虫口密度孕穗期最高,拔节期次之,收获期最低。冬小麦与夏玉米禾本科作物连作种植田间虫口密度达35.3~40.4头·m-2,显著高于前茬大豆、玉米、冬小麦休闲地,且花生地、春玉米地比大豆地虫口密度高5倍多,虫口重量高10倍以上。成熟期虫害麦田测产,籽粒减产36.8%;虫口密度增加10头·m-2,籽粒减产率增加4.824%;虫口重量增加1 g·m-2,籽粒减产率增加3.871%;植株虫害率增加10%,籽粒减产率增加11.587%。     

Climate variability in the Pacific Northwest and its effect on stripe rust disease of winter wheat

Wheat stripe rust (Puccinia striiformis West.) epidemics are confined predominantly to the Pacific Northwest in the U. S. A. because of climate. This disease was frequently reported until the late 1930's and then virtually absent until the late 1950's. Since the severe epidemic in 1961, stripe rust has been frequently severe on winter wheat and has caused losses in susceptible cultivars in many years. Because of the unusual history of stripe rust in this region, the possibility that climate variability affected the pattern of rust occurrence was investigated. Meteorological data for seven locations in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho were analyzed. In 1961–1974 for the Columbia Basin locations, January and February temperatures averaged 1.20° C higher than during the period 1935–1960; however, April temperatures averaged 1.28° C lower in 1961–1974 than during the earlier period. Monthly precipitation averages have not varied more than 12.7 mm in any month. Between 1961–1974, December snowfall almost doubled over that in 1935–1960; snowfall in February decreased over 50% from the earlier period. Data was computed on a seasonal basis since 1901 and considered in respect to stripe rust epidemics. Since 1961, above-normal winter and below-normal spring temperatures have increased the frequency and severity of stripe rust epidemics in the Pacific Northwest. The direction of temperature and precipitation trends varied with the time period considered. How the climate variability which has occurred may have affected winter wheat growth and yields is postulated. Studies such as this should be useful to researchers modelling crop-yields, agronomists evaluating results from field experiments and to researchers studying fluctuations in pest populations.This research was supported by a National Science Foundation Grant (ATM 76-21725); Climate Dynamics Program, Division of Atmospheric Sciences.     

气候变化对雨养冬小麦水分利用效率的影响估算

研究气候变化对雨养冬小麦水分利用效率的影响规律,可为农业适应气候变化提供科学依据。通过构建代表站雨养冬小麦产量和土壤水分变化量的模拟方程,分析水分利用效率的历史变化,并结合两种区域气候模式PRECIS和REGCM4.0输出的4种不同气候变化情景资料,估算未来2021—2050年雨养冬小麦水分利用效率的可能变化。结果表明:1981—2010年甘肃、山西和河南代表站的雨养冬小麦水分利用效率呈二次曲线变化趋势,最大值出现在2003年前后。4种气候变化情景的模拟结果均显示:2021—2050年冬小麦全生育期耗水量明显增加,各代表站不同情景平均增加6.2%;产量有增有减,平均产量变化率为1.4%;水分利用效率平均减小3.8%,且变率减小。区域气候模式PRECIS估算的水分利用效率的减小量A2情景大于B2情景,REGCM4.0模式估算的水分利用效率的减小量RCP8.5情景大于RCP4.5情景。整体来看,RCP气候情景对雨养冬小麦水分利用效率的负面影响更大。     

Climate change impacts on dryland cropping systems in the Central Great Plains,USA

Agricultural systems models are essential tools to assess potential climate change (CC) impacts on crop production and help guide policy decisions. In this study, impacts of projected CC on dryland crop rotations of wheat-fallow (WF), wheat-corn-fallow (WCF), and wheat-corn-millet (WCM) in the U.S. Central Great Plains (Akron, Colorado) were simulated using the CERES V4.0 crop modules in RZWQM2. The CC scenarios for CO₂, temperature and precipitation were based on a synthesis of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC 2007) projections for Colorado. The CC for years 2025, 2050, 2075, and 2100 (CC projection years) were super-imposed on measured baseline climate data for 15–17 years collected during the long-term WF and WCF (1992–2008), and WCM (1994–2008) experiments at the location to provide inter-annual variability. For all the CC projection years, a decline in simulated wheat yield and an increase in actual transpiration were observed, but compared to the baseline these changes were not significant (p > 0.05) in all cases but one. However, corn and proso millet yields in all rotations and projection years declined significantly (p < 0.05), which resulted in decreased transpiration. Overall, the projected negative effects of rising temperatures on crop production dominated over any positive impacts of atmospheric CO₂ increases in these dryland cropping systems. Simulated adaptation via changes in planting dates did not mitigate the yield losses of the crops significantly. However, the no-tillage maintained higher wheat yields than the conventional tillage in the WF rotation to year 2075. Possible effects of historical CO₂ increases during the past century (from 300 to 380 ppm) on crop yields were also simulated using 96 years of measured climate data (1912–2008) at the location. On average the CO₂ increase enhanced wheat yields by about 30%, and millet yields by about 17%, with no significant changes in corn yields.     

Yield Variability as Influenced by Climate: A Statistical Investigation

One of the issues with respect to climate change involves its influence on the distribution of future crop yields. Many studies have been done regarding the effect on the mean of such distributions but few have addressed the effect on variance. Furthermore, those that have been done generally report the variance from crop simulators, not from observations. This paper examines the potential effects of climate change on crop yield variance in the context of current observed yields and then extrapolates to the effects under projected climate change. In particular, maximum likelihood panel data estimates of the impacts of climate on year-to-year yield variability are constructed for the major U.S. agricultural crops. The panel data technique used embodies a variance estimate developed along the lines of the stochastic production function approach suggested by Just and Pope. The estimation results indicate that changes in climate modify crop yield levels and variances in a crop-specific fashion. For sorghum, rainfall and temperature increases are found to increase yield level and variability. On the other hand, precipitation and temperature are individually found to have opposite effects on corn yield levels and variability.     

Assessment of climate change adaptation costs for the U.S. road network

The U.S. road network is one of the nation's most important capital assets and is vital to the functioning of the U.S. economy. Maintaining this asset involves approximately $134 billion of government funds annually from Federal, State, and local agencies. Climate change may represent a risk or an opportunity to this network, as changes in climate stress will affect the resources necessary for both road maintenance and construction projects. This paper develops an approach for estimating climate-related changes in road maintenance and construction costs such that the current level of service provided by roads is maintained over time. We estimate these costs under a baseline scenario in which annual mean global temperature increases by 1.5 °C in 2050 relative to the historical average and a mitigation scenario under which this increase in mean temperature is limited to 1.0 °C. Depending on the nature of the changes in climate that occur in a given area, our analysis suggests that climate change may lead to a reduction in road maintenance and/or construction costs or an increase in costs. Overall, however, our analysis shows that climate change, if unchecked, will increase the annual costs of keeping paved and unpaved roads in service by $785 million in present value terms by 2050. When not discounted, this figure increases to $2.8 billion. Policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions are estimated to reduce these costs by approximately $280 million in present value terms and by $885 million when not discounted. These costs vary substantially by region and time period, information that should be important for transportation planners at the national, state, and local levels.     

Contributions of individual variation in temperature, solar radiation and precipitation to crop yield in the North China Plain, 1961–2003

An understanding of the relative impacts of the changes in climate variables on crop yield can help develop effective adaptation strategies to cope with climate change. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the interannual variability and trends in temperature, solar radiation and precipitation during 1961–2003 on wheat and maize yields in a double cropping system at Beijing and Zhengzhou in the North China Plain (NCP), and to examine the relative contributions of each climate variable in isolation. 129 climate scenarios consisting of all the combinations of these climate variables were constructed. Each scenario contained 43 years of observed values of one variable, combined with values of the other two variables from each individual year repeated 43 times. The Agricultural Production Systems Simulator (APSIM) was used to simulate crop yields using the ensemble of generated climate scenarios. The results showed that the warming trend during the study period did not have significant impact on wheat yield potential at both sites, and only had significant negative impact on maize yield potential at Beijing. This is in contrast with previous results on effect of warming. The decreasing trend in solar radiation had a much greater impact on simulated yields of both wheat and maize crops, causing a significant reduction in potential yield of wheat and maize at Beijing. Although decreasing trends in rainfed yield of both simulated wheat and maize were found, the substantial interannual variability of precipitation made the trends less prominent.     

Paper 2. agricultural impacts of and responses to climate change in the Missouri-Iowa-Nebraska-Kansas (MINK) region

The climate of the 1930s was used as an analog of the climate that might occur in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska and Kansas (the MINK region) as a consequence of global warming. The analog climate was imposed on the agriculture of the region under technological and economic conditions prevailing in 1984/87 and again under a scenario of conditions that might prevail in 2030. The EPIC model of Williamset al. (1984), modified to allow consideration of the yield enhancing effects of CO₂ enrichment, was used to evaluate the impacts of the analog climate on the productivity and water use of some 50 representative farm enterprises. Before farm level adjustments and adaptations to the changed climate, and absent CO₂ enrichment (from 350 to 450 ppm), production of corn, sorghum and soybeans was depressed by the analog climate in about the same percent under both current and 2030 conditions. Production of dryland wheat was unaffected. Irrigated wheat production actually increased. Farm level adjustments using low-cost currently available technologies, combined with CO₂ enrichment, eliminated about 80% of the negative impact of the analog climate on 1984/87 baseline crop production. The same farm level adjustments, plus new technologies developed in response to the analog climate, when combined with CO₂ enrichment, converted the negative impact on 2030 crop production to a small increase. The analog climate would have little direct effect on animal production in MINK. The effect, if any, would be by way of the impact on production of feed-grains and soybeans. Since this impact would be small after on-farm adjustments and CO₂ enrichment, animal production in MINK would be little affected by the analog climate.     

The Effect of Spatial Scale of Climatic Change Scenarios on Simulated Maize, Winter Wheat, and Rice Production in the Southeastern United States

We use the CERES family of crop models to assess the effect of different spatial scales of climate change scenarios on the simulated yield changes of maize (Zea mays L.), winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.),and rice (Oryza sativa L.) in the Southeastern United States. The climate change scenarios were produced with the control and doubled CO₂ runs of a high resolution regional climate model anda coarse resolution general circulation model, which provided the initial and lateral boundary conditions for the regional model. Three different cases were considered for each scenario: climate change alone, climate change plus elevated CO₂, and the latter with adaptations. On the state level,for most cases, significant differences in the climate changed yields for corn were found, the coarse scale scenario usually producing larger modeled yield decreases or smaller increases. For wheat, however, which suffered large decreases in yields for all cases, very little contrast in yield based on scale of scenario was found. Scenario scale resulted in significantly different rice yields, but mainly because of low variability in yields. For maize the primary climate variable that explained the contrast in the yields calculated from the two scenarios is the precipitation during grain fill leading to different water stress levels. Temperature during vernalization explains some contrasts in winter wheat yields. With adaptation, the contrasts in the yields of all crops produced by the scenarios were reduced but not entirely removed. Our results indicate that spatial resolution of climate change scenarios can be an important uncertainty in climate change impact assessments, depending on the crop and management conditions.     

贝叶斯准则在农牧交错带农业种植决策中的应用

为揭示呼伦贝尔市农牧交错带农业种植结构的实质,利用贝叶斯准则及该区气象资料,主要作物大豆、玉米和小麦的种植面积及产量资料进行了分析。结果表明:①该区种植作物的经济效益大小排序为:大豆>玉米>小麦;②如果预报有干旱发生,则作物种植比例大小排序为:玉米>大豆>小麦;如果预报有洪涝或低温冷害发生,则作物种植比例大小排序为:大豆>玉米>小麦;③设计了两种在干旱气候年型下的作物种植比例最优方案,产值可分别增加3%和5%以上。     

Climate Change Impacts for the Conterminous USA: An Integrated Assessment

Human activities have altered the distribution and quality of terrestrial ecosystems. Future demands for goods and services from terrestrial ecosystems will occur in a world experiencing human-induced climate change. In this study, we characterize the range in response of unmanaged ecosystems in the conterminous U.S. to 12 climate change scenarios. We obtained this response by simulating the climatically induced shifts in net primary productivity and geographical distribution of major biomes in the conterminous U.S. with the BIOME 3 model. BIOME 3 captured well the potential distribution of major biomes across the U.S. under baseline (current) climate. BIOME 3 also reproduced the general trends of observed net primary production (NPP) acceptably. The NPP projections were reasonable for forests, but not for grasslands where the simulated values were always greater than those observed. Changes in NPP would be most severe under the BMRC climate change scenario in which severe changes in regional temperatures are projected. Under the UIUC and UIUC + Sulfate scenarios, NPP generally increases, especially in the West where increases in precipitation are projected to be greatest. A CO₂-fertilization effect either amplified increases or alleviated losses in modeled NPP. Changes in NPP were also associated with changes in the geographic distribution of major biomes. Temperate/boreal mixed forests would cover less land in the U.S. under most of the climate change scenarios examined. Conversely, the temperate conifer and temperate deciduous forests would increase in areal extent under the UIUC and UIUC + Sulfate scenarios. The Arid Shrubland/Steppe would spread significantly across the southwest U.S. under the BMRC scenario. A map overlay of the simulated regions that would lose or gain capacity to produce corn and wheat on top of the projected distribution of natural ecosystems under the BMRC and UIUC scenarios (Global mean temperature increase of +2.5 °C, no CO₂ effect) helped identify areas where natural and managed ecosystems could contract or expand. The methods and models employed here are useful in identifying; (a) the range in response of unmanaged ecosystem in the U.S. to climate change and (b) the areas of the country where, for a particular scenario of climate change, land cover changes would be most likely.