Australian wheat yields plummet after decades of global heating, study finds

Australia is one of the world’s major exporters of wheat, accounting for more than 10% of the global trade. Photograph: William West/AFP/Getty Images

Global heating in the Indian Ocean has shifted a climate pattern towards drier conditions across Australia’s globally important wheat belt causing a severe drop in yields over the past three decades, according to a new study.

Scientists from Australia and China warned as global heating continues, wheat-growing conditions would become more challenging.