Higher CO2 means more food, new study confirms
As much as the global warming alarmists like to claim that warmer mean global temperatures are nothing but catastrophic, we know that warmer temperatures indeed offer a number of advantages.
Source: Food and Agriculture Organization
Among them is agricultural output and global greening. Warmer temperatures not only extend the growing season at middle to upper latitudes, but the elevated atmospheric CO2 concentrations we have today (420 ppm) are acting as plant fertilization that is profoundly boosting crop yields. That’s nothing less than a blessing.
0.8% more crop per 1 ppm CO2 increase
German site Die kalte Sonne presents a paper by Taylor & Schlenker (2021) which supports this: “Environmental Drivers of Agricultural Productivity Growth: CO₂ Fertilization of US Field Crops“.
The authors assessed the CO₂ fertilization effect on US agriculture using spatially-varying CO₂ data from NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 (OCO-2) satellite covering the majority of US cropland under actual growing conditions.
They conclude:
We find consistently high fertilization effects: a 1 ppm increase in CO₂ equates to a 0.5%, 0.6%, and 0.8% yield increase for corn, soybeans, and wheat, respectively. Viewed retrospectively, 10%, 30%, and 40% of each crop’s yield improvements since 1940 are attributable to rising CO₂.”
900 ppm may be optimal level
Moreover, the authors add: “A strong positive relationship between CO2 and yields should not be inherently surprising. CO2 is a purchased input in many agricultural settings. The gas has long been pumped into greenhouses to spur photosynthesis and increase the yield of horticultural crops. Optimal CO2 concentrations of 900 ppm have been suggested, which is over twice current ambient
levels (Mortensen 1987).
The alarmists can put that in their pipe and smoke it.
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March 18, 2022 at 12:27PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 