Soybean yield has fallen by 6% for every one-degree-Celsius (°C) increase in temperature since the 1980s. Brazilian researchers made the finding after examining the effects of changes in annual temperature and rainfall from 1980 to 2018 in 322 municipalities in the region known as Matopiba, an area of transition between the Cerrado and the Amazon covering parts of the states of Maranhão, Tocantins, Piauí, and Bahia. The team, led by Brazilian economist Daniel Silva of the University of Texas, interviewed 90 farmers in the region to ask about agricultural practices and perceptions of climate change. The farmers attributed rising average temperatures to cyclical fluctuations in the climate and did not relate crop loss to the reduction in rainfall. The increased temperatures also lead to higher debts, with greater investments needed in irrigation and other technologies to mitigate losses caused by droughts (International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, February).
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