Ozone hurts crop production?

Satellite views of the Midwestern United States show that ozone levels above 50 parts per billion (ppb) along the ground could reduce soybean yields by at least 10 percent, costing more than $1 billion in lost crop production, according to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) scientists.

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But without examining the merits of the study (e.g., not sure how satellites can be used to predict crop yields and prices), reducing ground-level ozone below 50 ppb would be prohibitively expensive. For example, the EPA’s pending move to tighten the ozone standard to between 60-70 ppb is estimated to cost $1 trillion (i.e., a lot more than $1 billion) annually in compliance costs. Click for the USDA media release.

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