The relationship between climatic factors and crop yields for maize and soybeans in 3 major producing countries (the United States, Brazil, and China) was analyzed statistically. Temporal changes in the climate−yield relationship were considered, and the temporal and spatial variations were evaluated. County-level data from 1980 to 2006 were collected for each country and allocated to 1.125° × ...

Theoretical analysis of the CO(2) assimilation and water loss by single leaves suggests that the water use efficiency of C(4) species decreases as stomatal resistance increases. To confirm this hypothesis for a complete maize crop, results from computer simulations and a field experiment were compiled for varying stomatal resistances. A soil-plant-atmosphere model allowed simulations of the man...

Increases in the severity and frequency of drought in a warming climate may negatively impact agricultural production and food security. Unlike previous studies that have estimated agricultural impacts of climate condition using single-crop yield distributions, we develop a multivariate probabilistic model that uses projected climatic conditions (e.g., precipitation amount or soil moisture) thr...

Future agricultural production will encounter multifaceted challenges from global climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, causing increased radiative forcing (Le Quéré et al., 2009; Shindell et al., 2009). Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will increase annual temperatures by 2.5 C to 4.3 C in important cro...

Future agricultural production will encounter multifaceted challenges from global climate change. Carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gases are accumulating in the atmosphere at unprecedented rates, causing increased radiative forcing (Le Quéré et al., 2009; Shindell et al., 2009). Continued emissions of greenhouse gases will increase annual temperatures by 2.5 C to 4.3 C in important cro...

Accurate and timely information on rice crop growth and yield helps governments and other stakeholders adapting their economic policies, enables relief organizations to better anticipate and coordinate relief efforts in the wake of a natural catastrophe, and provides technical backbone of an insurance solution where risks of yield losses from the rice smallholders are transferred to the insuran...

Mast seeding, the extremely variable and synchronized production of fruits, is a common reproductive behavior in plants. Weather is centrally involved in driving masting. Yet, it is often claimed that it cannot be the sole proximate cause of masting because weather is less variable than fruit production and because the shape of their distributions differ. We used computer simulations to demonst...

The use of gypsiferous mine water for irrigation of agricultural crops is a promising technology that could solve problems related to both shortage of irrigation water and disposal of effluent mine drainage. The long-term effect of irrigation with lime-treated acid mine drainage on soil properties and catchment salt load was investigated. The soil water–salt balance-crop growth model (SWB) and ...