Warming To Give Substantial Boost To Canker Disease Damaging Canola Crops - AFP

[hatrack]

Global warming will fuel a disease that annually causes hundreds of million dollars in damage to rapeseed plants, used to make canola oil, according to a study released Tuesday.

Using weather-based computer models, researchers in Britain predicted that climate change will expand the range and increase the severity of phoma stem canker, which already accounts for 900 million dollars (650 million euros) in losses each year.

The study, published in the Royal Society journal Interface, found that warmer winters have significantly advanced the date of stem canker appearance in spring, giving it more time to spread before harvest.

Eleven of the past 12 years rank among the dozen warmest years on record, while mean global atmospheric temperature have risen by 0.8 C (1.44 F) over the last century. Plant pathologist Neal Evans, who led the research, forecast that the disease would move from England north to Scotland, where it does not currently exist.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/2007/070814124316.rhrly4bx.html

[phantom power]

1. Hmm. One more biofuel darling drifting under the climate change gun.

[NNadir]

2. Well there's always palm oil.

Let's not be pessimistic.

[hatrack]

3. And let's not forget the miracle of corn-based ethanol from right here in the U S of A!

:eyes: