Record Crops Reject Food Alarmism
Ours is an agricultural golden age, says Vijay Jayaraj. The air is richer in the compound that gives plants life. The weather is more conducive to growing food than it has been in centuries. The fabricated doomsday scenarios of the climate industrial complex are ludicrous.
Crops like wheat, respond strongly to CO2 enrichment. (Source: Shutterstock)
Vijay Jayaray
Date: 17 June 2026
A claim that repeatedly clashes with observable reality demands scrutiny. Such claims survive only when contradictory evidence is buried, data selectively presented, or fear trumps fact. Such is the case with the apocalyptic narrative of climate change.
One among the many pretenses of doomsayers is that shifting climate patterns threaten global food security. Environmental websites like Mongabay warn that “climate change, extreme weather, and conflict exacerbate the global food crisis,” as if harvests are failing everywhere. “Science” blogs declare that climate change endangers food systems. The United Nations states that “the world’s food supply is made insecure by climate change.”
If this drumbeat matched reality, heavily populated agrarian nations would be showing signs of collapse, with my home country of India already a cautionary tale. Hundreds of millions of Indians still depend directly or indirectly on agriculture. Rainfall variability has shaped its economic history for generations.
Instead, India’s crop production has shattered records year after year, proving this thread of climate dogma false.
India’s agricultural miracle defies climate propaganda
India ranks as the world’s second-largest producer of rice and wheat, with output reaching 150 million and 117 million metric tons, respectively, in 2024-25. The country achieved record food grain production of 358 million metric tons, reflecting a strong shift towards high-value crops. Between 2020 and 2025, agricultural exports rose 50% to $51 billion. Agriculture and allied activities account for nearly one-fifth of the country’s gross value-added at current prices, employ approximately 46% of the workforce, and support nearly 55% of the population.
Does this look like a collapsing ecosystem to you? Do record-breaking harvests reflect a planet hostile to plant life? The shrieks of climate Chicken Littles are no match for millions of tons of harvested grain.
The toxic CO2 myth
How does a nation in the tropics, supposedly vulnerable to “extreme weather,” achieve consecutive record harvests? The answer lies partly in something climate alarmists refuse to acknowledge: Rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) accelerate plant growth, and natural warming of the modern era favors agriculture far more than the chill of the Little Ice Age, from which the planet emerged 175 years ago.
Carbon dioxide is not the pollutant that climate pseudoscience alleges. It is plant food. Every botanist and farmer understands this, as did school children before indoctrination replaced education in many classrooms. Elevated CO2 levels boost photosynthesis, increase crop yields, and improve water-use efficiency in plants.
NASA states that “CO2 is making Earth greener,” noting that a rising atmospheric concentration has added 5% to global green leaf area over the past three decades. Studies of plant growth consistently demonstrate that crops like wheat, rice, and soybeans respond strongly to CO2 enrichment, with yield increases ranging from 15% to 30%.
Commercial greenhouse operators routinely boost productivity by elevating CO2 levels to 800-1,000 parts per million (ppm)—well above current atmospheric levels of 420 ppm. The results are striking: tomato yields increase by 40-50%, cucumber production rises by 30-40%, and growth of lettuce and other vegetables accelerates significantly.
This does not mean climate plays no role in agriculture. Of course it does. Rainfall, temperature, sunlight, and seasonal timing matter. The issue is whether the climate narrative accurately explains agricultural outcomes.
During the Little Ice Age, cold temperatures caused widespread crop failures. Growing seasons were brutally short. Frost destroyed harvests before they could mature. People starved in massive numbers across Europe and Asia. Today’s warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons are blessings.
Ours is an agricultural golden age. The air is richer in the compound that gives plants life. The weather is more conducive to growing food than it has been in centuries. The fabricated doomsday scenarios of the climate industrial complex are ludicrous.
This article was published first on RealClearMarkets.com on 5 June 2026.
Vijay Jayaraj
Vijay Jayaraj is a Science and Research Associate at the CO2 Coalition, Fairfax, Virginia. He holds an M.S. in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia and a postgraduate degree in energy management from Robert Gordon University, both in the U.K., and a bachelor’s in engineering from Anna University, India. He served as a research associate with the Changing Oceans Research Unit at University of British Columbia, Canada.
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