Rice and Climate Change

Friends,
The rice crop this year is a disaster. Thailand and the Philipine Islands have banned the export of rice and drought persists in Australia. Climate Change affects the main crop of poor all around the world. "Food riots" is one of the scariest of terms, yet they are starting to happen already in Haiti and Senegal.
Peace and Love,
Rev O

New York Times
"The Deniliquin mill, the largest rice mill in the Southern Hemisphere, once processed enough grain to meet the needs of 20 million people around the world. But six long years of drought have taken a toll, reducing Australia’s rice crop by 98 percent and leading to the mothballing of the mill last December."

"The drought’s effect on rice has produced the greatest impact on the rest of the world, so far. It is one factor contributing to skyrocketing prices, and many scientists believe it is among the earliest signs that a warming planet is starting to affect food production."

"Scientists expect the problem to worsen. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, set up by the United Nations, predicted last year that even slight warming would lower agricultural output in the tropics and subtropics."

"The recent reports of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change carried an important caveat that could make the news even worse: the panel said that existing models for the effects of climate change on agriculture did not yet include newer findings that global warming could reduce rainfall and make it more variable."

A Drought in Australia, a Global Shortage of Rice New York Times
By KEITH BRADSHER
The collapse of Australia’s rice production may foretell some of the effects of global warming on agriculture.