Over the last 20 years, substantial effort has been invested in
assessing the potential impacts of climate change on crop
production (e.g. Lobell and Burke 2010, and references
therein). While elevated CO2 has potentially had a positive
influence on growth in conditions of favourable water supply,
nutrition, and pest control, the size of this‘fertilisation’ effect will
be partially offset by accompanying higher temperature effects
over the next 20–30 years, especially in dryland production
areas (Howden et al. 2003; Hatfield and Prueger 2011). Higher
temperatures influence plant growth by accelerating development
(thereby causing a reduction in the number of ‘growing days’
and in the total radiation captured and biomass produced), and
more directly by influencing growth processes to affect the
photosynthetic capacity of leaves, the composition of biomass,
and the establishment and filling of grains or fruits.