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Climate change caused $11 billion in soybean losses

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have determined climate change has cost U.S. soybean growers $11 billion over the last 20 years. U.W. Extension soybean and wheat specialist and agronomy professor Shawn Conley says they used data gathered from variety field trials in many of the states involved in the study.  That gave them reliable, consistent information about genetics, management practices and the weather.  They removed the effects of genetic improvements and management strategies leaving just the impact of the weather.

What they found was soybean yields actually increased in the northern states like Wisconsin, Minnesota and South Dakota, but not enough to offset the loss in the big soybean-producing states like Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa and Missouri. In the end, they have determined the total soybean yields would have been 30 percent higher if weather variations resulting from climate change had not occurred; “Which amounts to $11 billion economic loss over the past 20 years.”

Conley says the goal of the research is to help producers make better, more informed decisions when planning their crops.  He talks about the study:

 

The study is available on-line here