The price of beer could be on the rise because of climate change. According to an article in the scientific journal Nature Plants, it could become reality if extreme drought and heat occur more frequently. David Dean has more.

Climate change, and beer. Those are two things that rarely appear in the same sentence. But according to an article in Nature Plants. If the earth gets warmer, that Friday-night drink of yours might just get pricier.

DR. XIE WEI, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SCHOOL OF ADVANCED AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, PEKING UNIVERSITY "Extreme weather conditions such as drought or heat will impact barley production. Barley is irreplaceable in beer brewing. So if barley production drops, beer production will also drop, and beer might get more expensive."

Dr. Xie is one of the authors of the article. The team used mathematical models to simulate the effect of "extreme events", such as extreme drought, on barley production.

WANG XINCHENG, SENIOR BREWMASTER ANHEUSER-BUSCH HARBIN BREWERY "The quality of beer depends on the quality of barley malt, if the barley doesn't get enough water while the grain is growing to fill the kernel, the quality of the protein and carbohydrate in its grain will drop."

Drought has led the world barley production to experience drops from time to time. Barley production in Europe experienced a 30% to 40% drop in the summer of 2018 in regions such as Scandinavia and northern Germany. However, Wang says these levels of fluctuations are manageable for the beer industry.

WANG XINCHENG, SENIOR BREWMASTER ANHEUSER-BUSCH HARBIN BREWERY "We source our barley globally. Barley producing regions are found in North America, Europe, and Australia, as well as northeastern China. If production in one region fails, we can make it up by importing more from other regions."

Changes in regional production might be manageable now, but if climate change gets out of control, the impact will be global. As Dr. Xie points out, the impact of climate change will not only be limited to staple crops.

DR. XIE WEI, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR SCHOOL OF ADVANCED AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES, PEKING UNIVERSITY "We are only using beer as an example. In developing countries like China, per capita consumption of staple crops is dropping, but that of products such as dairy, meat, and beer is rising. So we should also pay more attention to the impact of climate change on high-added-value agricultural products."

Beer, arguably not essential for human survival, occupies a major part in human culture and celebration around the world, giving people yet one more reason to care more about climate change.