By the time today's elementary schoolers graduate from college,
the U.S. corn belt could be forced to move to the Canadian
border to escape devastating heat waves brought on by rising
global temperatures. If farmers don't move their corn north, the
more frequent heat waves could lead to bigger swings in corn
prices – "price volatility" – which cause spikes in food prices,
farmers' incomes and the price livestock farmers and ethanol
producers pay for corn. A study published April 22 in the
journal Nature Climate Change shows for the first time climate
change's outsized influence on year-to-year swings in corn
prices. Researchers from Stanford and Purdue universities found
that climate change's impact on corn price volatility could far
outweigh the volatility caused by changing oil prices or
government energy policies mandating biofuels production from
corn and other crops. "Frankly, I was surprised that climate had
the largest effect of these three influences," said Noah
Diffenbaugh, an assistant professor of