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Brewers, Barley Growers Have a Climate Change Plan

With news that beer prices could spike with the temperatures, these groups say not to worry yet

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Research published this week predicting that beer prices could double as rising global temperatures and more volatile weather cause shortages of barley created a big splash, reports NPR. But brewers and barley growers say you shouldn't drown your sorrows just yet: They have a plan.

The paper, published Monday in the journal Nature Plants, warns of "serious supply disruptions" of barley. Analyzing several possible climate change scenarios, the authors find that global yields could drop 17% during severe droughts and heat waves in the future and that beer prices could spike.

Dwight Little, president of the Idaho Grain Producers Association, doesn't believe that barley farmers will be hit as hard as the paper predicts.

Barley production is already shifting, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture data, with a growing percentage of the crop coming from Canada, indicating a northward shift into latitudes that may remain cooler in a warmer future.

Read the full report here.

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