Cited by 3,420Climate change impacts on agricultureClimate Change and Health ImpactsClimate Change Policy and Economics

Nonlinear temperature effects indicate severe damages to U.S. crop yields under climate change

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Schlenker, Wolfram, Roberts, Michael J.·2009·Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Abstract

The United States produces 41% of the world's corn and 38% of the world's soybeans. These crops comprise two of the four largest sources of caloric energy produced and are thus critical for world food supply. We pair a panel of county-level yields for these two crops, plus cotton (a warmer-weather crop), with a new fine-scale weather dataset that incorporates the whole distribution of temperatures within each day and across all days in the growing season. We find that yields increase with temperature up to 29 degrees C for corn, 30 degrees C for soybeans, and 32 degrees C for cotton but that temperatures above these thresholds are very harmful. The slope of the decline above the optimum is significantly steeper than the incline below it. The same nonlinear and asymmetric relationship is found when we isolate either time-series or cross-sectional variations in temperatures and yields. This suggests limited historical adaptation of seed varieties or management practices to warmer temperatures because the cross-section includes farmers' adaptations to warmer climates and the time-series does not. Holding current growing regions fixed, area-weighted average yields are predicted to decrease by 30-46% before the end of the century under the slowest (B1) warming scenario and decrease by 63-82% under the most rapid warming scenario (A1FI) under the Hadley III model.

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Crossref · 10.1073/pnas.0906865106

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  • Agriculture is primarily affected by climate through its impacts on productivity, crop yields, arable land, and water.

    “Agriculture is primarily affected by climate through its impacts on productivity, crop yields, arable land, and water (Schlenker and Roberts 2009, Hsiang 2010, Chen et al 2024).”

    From The impacts of climate change on violent conflict risk: a review of causal pathways (2024) · cites this paper as Schlenker and Roberts 2009

    The Abstract and Results (page numbers not provided) link climate and weather to crop yields and agricultural output, including projected yield declines under warming. The Discussion mentions land values, not changes in arable land; the paper considers precipitation and irrigation but does not establish climate impacts on water resources. Those parts of the attributed claim are unsupported by this source. (LLM, conf=0.86)

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Temperature impacts economic outcomes.

    “Given that research has also shown that temperature impacts economic outcomes (Schlenker and Roberts, 2009; Houser et al., 2015; Heal and Park, 2016; Deryugina and Hsiang, 2017)”

    From Temperature and mental health: Evidence from the spectrum of mental health outcomes (2019) · cites this paper as Schlenker and Roberts, 2009

    Experimental — accuracy not yet measured
  • Schlenker and Roberts (2009) described that maize yield was increased at an optimum temperature of 29 °C but a further increase in temperature hampered the yield of maize.

    “Schlenker and Roberts (2009) described that maize yield was increased at an optimum temperature of 29 °C but a further increase in temperature hampered the yield of maize [53].”
  • Schlenker and Roberts (2009) revealed that the threshold temperature for soybean is 30 °C; a rise to the optimum level increased soybean yield but after that level further rise in temperature reduced the yield abruptly.

    “Schlenker and Roberts (2009) revealed that the threshold temperature for soybean is 30 °C; a rise in temperature to the optimum level increased soybean yield but after that level, further rise in temperature reduced the yield abruptly [53].”

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Research works printed but not linked: 1

  1. [23]Thom HCS. Normal degree days above any base by the universal truncation coefficient. Monthly Weather Rev. 1966;94:461–465. [Google Scholar]

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Authors
Schlenker, W., & Roberts, M. J.
Affiliations
  • Columbia University (US)
  • North Carolina State University (US)
Corresponding author
Schlenker, Wolfram
Venue
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2009-09-15
Volume
106
Issue
37
Pages
15594-15598
ISSN
  • 0027-8424 (ISSN-L)
  • 1091-6490
OpenAlex
W2161994757
Cited by
3,420
References
30
Citations by year
2026: 279 · 2025: 297 · 2024: 282 · 2023: 303 · 2022: 295 · 2021: 317 · 2020: 250 · 2019: 217 · 2018: 212 · 2017: 187 · 2016: 173 · 2015: 163 · 2014: 136 · 2013: 116 · 2012: 91
FWCI
66.95
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Funders
  • Harvard University
  • Arizona State University
  • North Carolina State University
  • University of Wyoming
  • Dartmouth College
  • Georgia State University
  • University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Topics
  • Life Sciences › Agricultural and Biological Sciences › Ecology, Evolution, Behavior and Systematics › Climate change impacts on agriculture
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
  • Social Sciences › Economics, Econometrics and Finance › Economics and Econometrics › Climate Change Policy and Economics
Keywords
crop yield, climate change impacts, temperature effects on agriculture, maize, soybean, cotton, nonlinear temperature response, yield threshold, climate change projections, United States agriculture, food security
MeSH terms
Zea mays, Gossypium, Models, Biological, Glycine max, Temperature, United States, Weather, Databases, Factual, Nonlinear Dynamics, Greenhouse Effect, Crops, Agricultural

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