Included was a warning: drought and crop failures could trigger major population movements and lead to political instability.
Erosion-control practices and drought-resistant crop hybrids are just two examples of ways in which modern agriculture attempts to mitigate the impacts of severe drought.
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And new drought-tolerant crop varieties have been developed.
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Through the decades, the Landsat satellites have monitored drought conditions, global crop output, shrinking glaciers and the effects of urban sprawl.
The real problems are blight control, which are long term problems, trying to reduce chemical input into the crop, drought and water management.
Innovative technologies will be needed to improve crop yields and drought tolerance and deliver more efficient ways of using fertilizer and water.
And not only were the same people leading the charge, but they were naming the same alleged cause (human industrial activity) and the same alleged consequences (more drought, extreme weather, crop failures, etc.).
That is understandable when drought or deluge can destroy their crop, but it has the effect of reducing yields.
This remains a very real concern, with much of the world suffering from increasing water scarcity, land erosion, drought intensity, stalled progress on crop productivity, declining groundwater aquifers, over-grazing of pasturelands, tropical deforestation, massive species extinction, over-fishing, and anthropogenic climate-change.
Drought has cut Australia's 2007 crop, and some of the surplus may be soaked up.
While he admits that the worsening Midwest drought will cause a sharp hike in crop prices, he maintains there is yet no need to seek a reduction in corn-based ethanol production.
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For eight of them, crop yields the year after the drought did not fully rebound.
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In fact, it's not far-fetched to imagine a perfect storm in which low-priced oil coincides with climbing natural gas prices just as a drought hits the Midwest, ravaging the corn crop.
But the greatest boon of all to food security and to the environment in the long term may be the ability of new crop varieties to tolerate periods of drought and other water-related stresses.
Blame the drought conditions that blazed through the corn and soybean crop this year.
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"The severe deterioration of maize crop prospects in the US following extensive drought damage pushed up maize prices by almost 33% in July, " said the FAO.
Following the meeting, the White House announced several new measures the Administration is implementing to help those impacted by the drought, including providing additional assistance for livestock and crop producers, increasing the capacity for lending to small businesses, and waiving certain requirements on trucks helping to provide relief.
Last year, thousands of elms died of drought, and on the nutrients from their carcasses a bumper crop of morels has been creeping forth, like wrinkled zombie armies.
Crop yields in recent dry years were less affected by drought than crops of the dust-bowl droughts of the 1930s, when there was less carbon dioxide.
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Orion Genomics hopes to start pulling in revenues next year from its proprietary method of sequencing, mapping and cloning agricultural genes--technology that can be used to improve crop yield, develop pest resistance or help plants survive drought, flooding and cold.
The company expects crop yields to be lower in 2012 owing to the severe drought in the U.S., resulting in high grain prices.
So this spring, as is the case every spring, global warming is allowing earlier planting seasons, spurring higher crop production, assisting forests, shrinking deserts, and reducing drought.
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Where water is scarce, the development of crop varieties that grow under conditions of low moisture or temporary drought could boost yields and lengthen the time that farmland is productive.
OMAHA, Nebraska (Reuters) - The most extensive drought in five decades has left corn plants withered and dying, and crop yields in the largest producing states will be much lower than experts have forecast, scouts said on Friday as they completed a U.S. Midwest crop tour.
These technologies increase crop yields and offer a variety of crop-specific benefits, including better nutrients, improved resistance to pests, drought-resistance and other characteristics that allow farmers to grow more with less environmental impact.
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But a regional drought doesn't mean that consumers won't be able to buy the best of the crop.
Australia's key crop production fell by more than a third during the quarter, hit by the worst drought in a century.
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