Quote:
Originally Posted by Erasmus00
Not really true, as far as food goes. Warming shifts the ideal growing latitude away from the equator, where much of the land is not suitable for farming (no topsoil). Less food, not more.
-Will
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I have always been under the impression much of the equatorial regions have very poor soils, such as the amazon area where farmland is basically useless (without huge amounts of ferts) after only a few years.
Global soil orders map:
http://www.in.nrcs.usda.gov/mlra11/i...ers_poster.JPG
As I understand good crop soils, the map above indicates these regions are shown in the greens (with some variables of course).
Much of the success of current crops is because of hybrid seeds allowing crops to be grown in regions whos climate doesnt support them currently, such as corn that ears out in 90 days rather than 120, dwarf wheats (which dont topple over in the winds) wheats with shorter growing seasons allowing second crops, etc. A longer growing season (warmer conditions) will increase the amount of lands that can support crops simply due to the massive amount of land which is too cold to farm our typical food crops.
