Grown as a biofuel, sugarcane has a reputation for guzzling water and fertiliser. But it has a good side: compared to other crops, it cools the landscape.
Scott Loarie of the Carnegie Institution for Science in Stanford, California, and colleagues used satellite data to monitor the effects of sugarcane cultivation in the Brazilian savannah. They found that converting natural vegetation to crops warmed the area by 1.6 °C, but a subsequent switch to sugarcane cooled it by 0.9 °C. That's because sugarcane reflects more of the sun's heat and releases extra water vapour.
Loarie says that if sugarcane is to be grown as a biofuel, it is better to convert farmland – although this leaves less land for growing food, raising prices. Timothy Searchinger of Princeton University says that might lead to more savannah being cleared for food crops, so local temperatures would rise, not fall – something Loarie also emphasises.
Journal reference: Nature Climate Change, DOI: 10.1038/nclimate1067
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