There's nothing alarmist about it, spindoc, simply an observation that it is likely and therefore it needs to be considered as part of future planning.

Since you like simplistic analogies, consider this: in the 50s and early 60s it became obvious that going for a drive was quite possibly going to end in the death or serious injury of people in the cars of the day. So sensible engineers made lots of sensible modifications to cars to make them safer. There were people back then just like you, who thought these were silly ideas and the people who suggested they were necessary (Ralph Nader springs to mind) were simply trying to destroy the car industry. Fortunately, as is the case today, the loons were outnumbered by the sane people and just as cars became safer, planning for the inevitable catastrophe that will (no, not might, will) occur at some future date to the world grain crop will help to avert disastrous famine.

It's contemptible that people like you and hasbeen take the attitude that "I'm all right Jack, screw you".

Unfortunately more CO2 in the atmosphere may well cause plants to grow quicker, but it comes with a number of down sides. The first and most obvious is that higher temperatures cause higher rates of evaporation this may not be a problem for most weeds and indigenous plants, but is not helpful for crops, which have been carefully selected for maximum yield. In Australia the season for growing wheat is winter and autumn, but if the growing season shrinks due to higher temperatures then crop yields are going to fall.

The second problem is the quicker growth induced by CO2 fertilization while increasing the production of sugars and starches, also tends to reduce other nutritional levels such as zinc, iron, and protein. Soy beans grown in elevated CO2 levels outside have been shown to be more vulnerable to insect attack, The increased levels of sugars and starches allow the insects to grow quicker and reproduce faster plus higher temperatures also improve insects chances of survival and numbers.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/05/140507-crops-nutrition-climate-change-carbon-dioxide-science/

http://www.ucsusa.org/global_warming/science_and_impacts/impacts/Global-warming-insects.html#.VXJ-PNKqqko

http://www.nytimes.com/1992/09/18/us/report-says-carbon-dioxide-rise-may-hurt-plants.html

My comment is here: (not on another page)

"The next time you get in your car, don't feel guilty about increasing the level of CO2 in the atmosphere, instead feel good inside about helping the Indian farmers grow more wheat."

First of all I don't drive or own a car. Worldwide environmental, social, issues and economic policies alongside population need to be considered. The above are vital to link together for a sustainable future. Trying to have some without others - won't please a lot of animal species (including humans) - whatever change we're having re climate, be it Autumn Summer, Winter or Spring.

Even The World Bank says, in terms of India:

"Although the past decade of rapid economic growth has brought many benefits to India, the environment has suffered, exposing the population serious air and water pollution." and that:

"A new report finds that environmental degradation costs India $80 billion per year or 5.7% of its economy." and "Green growth strategies are needed promote sustainable growth and to break the pattern of environmental degradation and natural resource depletion. Emission reductions can be achieved with minimal cost to GDP."

http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/03/06/green-growth-overcoming-india-environment-challenges-promote-development

Other issues environmentally facing India at present include air pollution, poor management of waste, growing water scarcity, falling groundwater tables, water pollution, (a need for) preservation and quality of forests, (issues relating to) biodiversity loss, and (issues relating to) land/soil degradation.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_issues_in_India

With India's large population at present, there are many people living in poor conditions or face serious social/health problems such as:

1. Having one-third of the world’s poor living in India;

2. No ability to grow enough crops, due to lack of new farming techniques available and farming being affected by weather conditions, poor storage, and lack of water;

3. Health and medical issues affecting people in India such as HIV/AIDS;

India's population is over 1.271 billion people (2015), and more than a sixth of the world's population. More people equals more impacts in a range of areas, so I don't see how this article makes any serious difference to issues facing India or in fact anywhere.

In the following link, there is a graph of total global grain production and grain production per capita over time. (Grain is the direct or indirect source of most of the world's calories.) What you will see is that grain production per capita peaked in 1984, although total grain production continued to increase until it stalled from about 1990.

http://www3.geosc.psu.edu/~dmb53/DaveSTELLA/Population/pop_modeling.htm

Grain production per hectare is continuing to increase, just not enough to compensate for land degradation and population growth.

http://www.tradingeconomics.com/world/cereal-yield-kg-per-hectare-wb-data.html

God help us & protect us from idiots.

It sounds like Craig Minns is one of the most dangerous, & most incompetent arrogant people on earth, a planner.

Warmair, after 18 years of no temperature increase, despite increasing CO2 in the air, all you have is some green tripe to argue your case, none of it attributable to CO2.

NathanJ, get off that bus, you'll never own it. Meanwhile yes India has many environmental problems, none of them attributable to harmless CO2. Well, perhaps to the irrational waste of money & effort, attacking CO2, rather than spend that money on real & curable problems. Incidentally just when did CO2 become guilty of causing HIV/AIDS.

By the way, there are thousands of acres just in my district that could grow any number of grains, but none of us are stupid enough to grow such a low return, often loss causing, crop. Pay enough for the stuff, & we'll bury you in it.

Divergence as above. Even an incredibly hard working productive Vietnamese family, growing the best vegetables I have ever seen, on some of our best riverfront land, could not make a living, & gave up. They now run trucks for a living, & have a couple of old retired horses adjusted there.

Any time food production becomes reasonably profitable, just watch the explosion in production, provided that is, we still someone who can remember how to do it.

Hasbeen, it's even worse than you fear, I'm not just a planner, I actually think and it doesn't even hurt!

It's OK, nobody expects that sort of thing from you though.