The world is expected to need 50 per cent more food by 2050, with around four billion more mouths to feed. But this food could soon be in short supply due to increasing temperatures and ozone pollution, according to a U.S. study. As a result, rates of malnourishment in the developing world could increase from the current 18 per cent to 27 per cent within the next four decades. Previous research has shown that both higher temperatures and ozone pollution can damage plants and reduce crop yields, but until now, nobody has looked at these together. And while rising temperatures are widely studied, the impact of air quality on crops is less recognised, the study’s authors claim.

The latest research looked in detail at how both these changes affect global production of four leading food crops – rice, wheat, corn, and soy. These crops currently account for more than half the calories humans consume worldwide. It predicts that effects will vary considerably from region to region, and that some of the crops are much more strongly affected by one or the other of the factors

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