EUROPEAN-SEED.COM I EUROPEAN SEED I 47 EXTRAS CLIMATE CHANGE WILL HAVE US CRYING IN WHAT’S LEFT OF OUR BEER On top of rising sea levels, stronger hurricanes and worsening wildfires, scientists project that human-caused climate change will result in one of the most dire consequences imaginable: a disruption in the global beer supply. In a study published in Nature Plants, research- ers from the University of California, Irvine and other institutions report that concur- rent droughts and heat waves, exacerbated by anthropogenic global warming, will lead to sharp declines in crop yields of barley, beer’s main ingredient. The economic models used in the paper demonstrated strong potential for price surges in some beer-loving countries, and whether or not people get to enjoy a frosty mug of suds will likely depend on their willingness to pay. “The world is facing many life-threatening impacts of cli- mate change, so people having to spend a bit more to drink beer may seem trivial by comparison,” said co-author Steven Davis, UCI associate professor of Earth system science. “But there is defi- nitely a cross-cultural appeal to beer, and not having a cool pint at the end of an increasingly common hot day just adds insult to injury.” NOT ENOUGH FRUITS, VEGETABLES GROWN TO FEED THE PLANET, U OF G STUDY REVEALS University of Guelph researchers compared global agricultural production with nutritionists’ consumption recommendations and found we aren’t producing enough fruits and vegetables to feed everyone on the planet a healthy diet. If everyone on the planet wanted to eat a healthy diet, there wouldn’t be enough fruit and vegetables to go around, according to a new University of Guelph study. A team of researchers compared global agricultural produc- tion with nutritionists’ consumption recommendations and found a drastic mismatch. “We simply can’t all adopt a healthy diet under the current global agriculture system,” said study co-author Prof. Evan Fraser, holder of the Canada Research Chair in Global Food Security and director of U of G’s Arrell Food Institute. “Results show that the global system currently overproduces grains, fats and sugars, while production of fruits and vegetables and, to a smaller degree, protein is not sufficient to meet the nutritional needs of the current population.” Published in the journal PLOS ONE, the study calculated the number of servings per person on the planet for each food group based on the Harvard University’s “Healthy Eating Plate” guide, which recommends that half of our diet consist of fruits and vegetables; 25 per cent, whole grains; and 25 per cent, pro- tein, fat and dairy. Researchers calculated how much land is currently used for farming and how much would be needed if everyone followed the nutritional recommendations. They then projected those num- bers for 2050, when the global population is expected to reach 9.8 billion. They found that we now produce 12 servings of grains per person instead of the recommended eight; five servings of fruits and vegetables instead of 15; three servings of oil and fat instead of one; three servings of protein instead of five; and four servings of sugar instead of none. “What we are producing at a global level is not what we should be producing according to nutritionists,” said Fraser, whose co-authors include Krishna KC, research scientist in the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, Profs. Nigel Raine and Madhur Anand, School of Environmental Sciences, and Prof. Malcolm Campbell, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology. UNDERSTANDING ENZYME COULD HELP PRODUCE FROST-RESISTANT CROPS Researchers from the University of Western Australia have found that an enzyme in plants, ATP Synthase, plays a critical role in how plants respond to the cold. The discovery, published in New Phytologist, could be used to produce frost-resistant crops, which would save the agricul- tural industry millions of dollars every year. The researchers say the new finding could prevent the impact of significant weather events, such as record low tem- peratures in the Wheatbelt this year, which wiped out a million tonnes of wheat. Dr. Nicolas Taylor from UWA’s School of Molecular Sciences and the ARC Center of Excellence in Plant Energy Biology (PEB) said that as the climate changes it is becoming increasingly important to understand how plants respond to temperature. “In our study we observed plants in near-freezing condi- tions and saw there was a decrease in the production of ATP, a plant cell’s main energy currency, which led to reduced growth,” Taylor says. “Based on a number of international studies it was previ- ously thought that other components of energy production were more sensitive than this enzyme, however, we were surprised to identify ATP Synthase as the culprit.” The finding has led to new revelations about plant responses to temperature. Dr Sandra Kerbler, from UWA and PEB said the benefits of understanding a crucial enzyme for energy production being so sensitive to cold was of great use to the agricultural industry and to the future of producing frost-resistant crops. “The research has changed previous thoughts of how plants cope with temperature stress and has highlighted new angles for investigation,” Kerbler said. “A better understanding of how a plant’s energy production is altered in response to changing temperatures could inform how we breed plants that are more adaptive to climate change.”