Admittedly I like the term “no shit sherlock” It’s employed when the obvious is stated.And the article which will be shared after the maps and commentary is a statement of the most obvious sort. British crops could get an “unexpected boost” if we actually had global warming.Wow, really? If more people gardened, grew their own veggies, flowers etc- were connected with the real world, they would understand that FACT. We've struggled for the past several years to get our garden planted so we can harvest successfully. We've had to cover soil to warm it because spring doesn't show up till summer is close. The first snow has been coming earlier and earlier-- We used to have a longer growing period 20 plus years ago. That I can recall. But, now... spring is always late in one of the warmest parts of Canada.See the Great Lakes region in the map? Where I reside is usually warmer then the rest of Canada. Except for pretty much the British Columbia coastal zone..Therefore it is a quintessential “no shit sherlock” statement, that in a normally coolish climate a bit of warmth would make a big difference in crop yields and extended growing periods.This would apply to Canada as well. And vast swathes of the US.Russia. China. You get the idea?Telegraph
Climate change (warming) could provide an unexpected boost for British crops, a pioneering field trial has shown.The experiment, carried out by scientists at the John Innes Centre in Norfolk, was set up to investigate the link between warmer Octobers and higher yields of oilseed rape. In a first of its kind trial, researchers heated small plots of land to mimic the temperatures that Britain may reach in the coming decades under global warming. The extra heat allowed the crop to flower later, giving weeks of extra growing time which could increase yields by up to 30 per cent.
Professor Steve Penfield who carried out the trials said the findings were also likely to apply to other field vegetables such as lettuce, and soft fruits.“By establishing the link between autumn temperatures and yield, our study highlights an example of climate change being potentially useful to farmers,” said Prof Penfield. “Cold Octobers have a negative effect on yield if you are growing oilseed rape, and these are now rarer.“We found that oilseed rape plants stop growing when they go through the floral transition at the end of October, and that warmer temperatures at this time of year enable the plant to grow for longer, giving more potential for higher yields.”
Field trials in Norfolk have shown that crops benefit from warmer Octobers
Wow, that will so totally convince me- NOT
England was warmer prior to the little ice age- So much warmer, in fact, that wine grapes were grown, prolifically. Whaddya know!?
“The Romans wrote about growing wine grapes in Britain in the first century,” says Avery, “and then it got too cold during the Dark Ages. Ancient tax records show the Britons grew their own wine grapes in the 11th century, during the Medieval Warming, and then it got too cold during the Little Ice Age. It isn’t yet warm enough for wine grapes in today’s Britain. Wine grapes are among the most accurate and sensitive indicators of temperature and they are telling us about a cycle. They also indicate that today’s warming is not unprecedented.”
I suspect the cold may have been the reason the "dark ages" were so DARK. There have been reports that England has wine grapes again, albeit on a very limited scale and largely in Southern England
When the Romans were in England they grew wine grapes in the north of EnglandBtw: it was likely a warmer climate that allowed the Romans to expand the empire in such a massive fashion - just a thought