Climate change affects global crops

Roxana Hegeman

Associated Press Writer

The world has “never been less secure” about the near-term future of wheat as crop failures and disease combine to threaten food supplies, U.S. Agriculture Secretary Edward Schafer told food aid groups Wednesday.

Schafer told the International Food Aid Conference meeting that crop failures have left global wheat stocks at their lowest point in 30 years and U.S. wheat stocks are at 60-year lows. Climate changes that have spawned unrelenting drought, floods and late freezes have all had an impact.

This has left the world at particular risk for a highly virulent wheat disease called African stem rust that is quickly spreading to places such as Uganda, Ethiopia, Yemen, India, Pakistan and Iran.

“We have never been less secure about the near term future of wheat,” Schafer said. “With over 75 percent of U.S. wheat acres planted to varieties that are highly susceptible to this disease, the threat here at home is real and it is urgent.”

The disease, which is carried by wind spores, would devastate global food supplies if it affects the U.S. wheat crops, now valued at $16 billion.

The U.S. has shipped wheat-breeding lines to east Africa, where scientists are working to find a rust-resistant strain and new protective measures.

“This is an international science partnership at its best in the face of crisis that threatens most of the world’s food,” Schafer told about 700 people from 25 countries.