Problems Cropping Up? The Historical Impact of Climate Change on Agriculture, with Ariel Ortiz-Bobea

Summary: In this episode, host Kristin Hayes talks with Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, an associate professor of applied economics and policy at Cornell University and a faculty fellow at the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. Much of Ortiz-Bobea’s research focuses on the links between climate change and agricultural productivity—which is the topic of this conversation. In particular, Ortiz-Bobea discusses a paper that he and colleagues released recently in Nature Climate Change, which covers the historical impact of anthropogenic climate change on global agricultural productivity. The key word here is “historical.” Whereas a large body of research focuses on future impacts, this study looks back to see how much climate change already has affected agriculture globally. Spoiler alert: the impacts today have been fairly large. References and recommendations: “Anthropogenic climate change has slowed global agricultural productivity growth” by Ariel Ortiz-Bobea, Toby R. Ault, Carlos M. Carrillo, Robert G. Chambers, and David B. Lobell; https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-021-01000-1 “Creating Abundance” by Alan L. Olmstead and Paul W. Rhode; http://services.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/history/american-history-general-interest/creating-abundance-biological-innovation-and-american-agricultural-development