El Niño friendly to US crops, unkind to Southeast Asia

El Niño might be on tap for mid-2017, a faster than normal reappearance, and the potential impacts on global agriculture depend partly on the timing of its arrival. La Niña just concluded a short-lived run earlier this year, and several climate models and forecasters are flagging the possibility that El Niño – which last occurred in early 2016 – could resurface in a couple of months. Many in the industry associate El Niño with disastrous weather worldwide and potentially damaging effects on agriculture, but this is highly dependent on both the region and crop – as some of them tend to benefit from the phenomenon. However, producers in the Eastern Hemisphere tend to be more challenged by El Niño than those in the West, as the phenomenon often curbs rainfall from India to Australia, and a quicker return to the warm ENSO cycle could add stress. Read more at Reuters…