Double Cropping as an Adaptation to Climate Change in the United States
AAEA members recent research in AJAE
In 2022 the USDA made a concerted effort to increase the number of soy and sorghum acres double cropped with wheat. President Biden directly addressed the issue in a May 2022 speech documented by The Modern Farmer, arguing “The growing season for wheat is short, and if the weather conditions aren’t ideal or there are other disruptions, then the timing of everything is thrown off. But it’s a risk we need to take.”
In the article “Double Cropping as an Adaptation to Climate Change in the United States,” Matthew Gammans from Isometric, Pierre Mérel from the University of California, Davis, and Ariel Ortiz-Bobea from Cornell University find out how much double cropping can serve as an adaptation to climate change.
The authors say, “For the most common form of double cropping in the United States—winter wheat followed by soybeans—we find that warmer temperatures increase double cropping in cooler regions but have little effect in warmer regions. Additionally, we find that double cropping reduces soybean yields by 12 percent. Overall, a 3 degrees Celsius increase in temperature is predicted to lead to a 3.1 percentage point rise in the share of soybeans that are double cropped with wheat, resulting in a 1.8 percent increase in revenues compared to a scenario where double cropping rates remain constant.”
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ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes three journals, the Journal of the Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (an open access journal), the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit www.aaea.org.
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