Comments on: Climate change and fruit http://agro.biodiver.se/2009/07/climate-change-and-fruit/ Crops, animals, wild relatives ... Tue, 14 Feb 2012 07:45:10 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jeremy http://agro.biodiver.se/2009/07/climate-change-and-fruit/comment-page-1/#comment-794929 Jeremy Sat, 25 Jul 2009 20:05:28 +0000 http://agro.biodiver.se/?p=7480#comment-794929 Good points, but ... are the positive changes going to occur at the same places as the negative ones? Of course we are wired to pay far more attention to negative changes, which may be one reason why people accentuate the negative, in an effort to change behaviour. Bad news sells. And that's why we read about climate change making things worse for, for example, maize farmers, rather than making it better for millet or sorghum farmers. Likewise, people downplay the studies, among them yours, that show improvements under climate change for strawberry growers in northern Europe. Maybe your next great paper should focus on the upside. I'd be willing to bet you'll find it much harder to get published. Good points, but … are the positive changes going to occur at the same places as the negative ones? Of course we are wired to pay far more attention to negative changes, which may be one reason why people accentuate the negative, in an effort to change behaviour. Bad news sells. And that’s why we read about climate change making things worse for, for example, maize farmers, rather than making it better for millet or sorghum farmers. Likewise, people downplay the studies, among them yours, that show improvements under climate change for strawberry growers in northern Europe.

Maybe your next great paper should focus on the upside. I’d be willing to bet you’ll find it much harder to get published.

]]> By: Andy Jarvis http://agro.biodiver.se/2009/07/climate-change-and-fruit/comment-page-1/#comment-794921 Andy Jarvis Sat, 25 Jul 2009 19:28:15 +0000 http://agro.biodiver.se/?p=7480#comment-794921 I actually think you can argue with that. Why always assume that climate change goes in the direction of negative change? Sure..lots of studies show that things get worse, but more degree days will surely shorten fruiting time, giving you production earlier. Greater extremes between maximum and minimum temperatures in the day might give you sweeter fruit. And less risk of frost early in the season during flowering could increase production. I fear we're predisposed to always see things negatively. I actually think you can argue with that. Why always assume that climate change goes in the direction of negative change? Sure..lots of studies show that things get worse, but more degree days will surely shorten fruiting time, giving you production earlier. Greater extremes between maximum and minimum temperatures in the day might give you sweeter fruit. And less risk of frost early in the season during flowering could increase production. I fear we’re predisposed to always see things negatively.

]]>