Running out of Rice not a good sign in Japan.
But I thought CO2 is what plants crave?
Record high temperatures in Japan could curb the country’s rice production, threatening to create shortages of the staple grain and fresh price spikes as public resentment mounts over cost of living.
Key rice-producing regions like Tohoku and Hokuriku saw the least amount of rain in July on record that goes back nearly 80 years, while a heat wave this month has broken multiple temperature records and scorched much of the country.
Such weather extremes may impact the harvest that typically starts in late summer, at a time when rice supplies have already been strained by adverse weather in recent years. That risks fanning prices that are already about 50% higher than a year ago, which could heap pressure on household budgets and political leaders.
“Due to the heat and drought, it is almost certain that both yields and distribution volume will decrease,” Kazunuki Ohizumi, professor emeritus at Miyagi University, who specializes in agricultural policy, said of this year’s crop.
Moreover, the risk may spread to other regions depending on future weather conditions, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said in an email. This year’s production volume will be known after the autumn harvest, the ministry said.
A rice shortage caused a national crisis earlier this summer as record prices prompted some schools to cut back on the days they serve the staple for lunch, and shops and restaurants to charge more for rice dishes. The scarcity can be traced back to a sweltering summer in 2023 that produced the lowest yield in more than a decade.
Another poor harvest could unleash further criticism against the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, which suffered a historic setback in upper house elections in July, in part because of the rice crisis.
Proceedings of the National Academy of Science:
The impact of projected global warming on crop yields has been evaluated by indirect methods using simulation models. Direct studies on the effects of observed climate change on crop growth and yield could provide more accurate information for assessing the impact of climate change on crop production. We analyzed weather data at the International Rice Research Institute Farm from 1979 to 2003 to examine temperature trends and the relationship between rice yield and temperature by using data from irrigated field experiments conducted at the International Rice Research Institute Farm from 1992 to 2003. Here we report that annual mean maximum and minimum temperatures have increased by 0.35°C and 1.13°C, respectively, for the period 1979–2003 and a close linkage between rice grain yield and mean minimum temperature during the dry cropping season (January to April). Grain yield declined by 10% for each 1°C increase in growing-season minimum temperature in the dry season, whereas the effect of maximum temperature on crop yield was insignificant.
Right under the Idiocracy clip, I read, “Proceedings of the National Academy of Science.”
My first thought was that you were comparing President Camacho’s Brawndo-loving staff with Trump’s expected staffing of the NAS (because that’s pretty much what he’s done with every agency).