When it comes to agriculture, such practice is highly dependent on the climate. Therefore, climate change has a negative effect on agriculture due to its unpredictable changes in climate. The intricate pattern the climate change makes the practices of farming and growing crops yet more uneasy than the process already is. Considering that crops require certain living conditions to survive and thrive in their respective environments, with terrible weather conditions happening more frequently and at the same time unpredictable is not helping this practice at all.
Agriculture is the system used to produce plants and animals as food, fuel, clothes, as many other products we use every day. Agriculture heavily relies on when certain production is “in season” – can be produced – vs. “out of season”. This determination relies on what the weather is to maintain the goods. Some main determinants are water availability, nutrient levels, and soil moisture. These conditions depend on how much rain(precipitation), the amount of sunlight, the average temperature of each season, and what types of pests are roaming about this season. All these parameters rely directly on the climate changes within the area the farmer is producing these goods.
The term “Climate change” refers to long-term shifts in temperature and weather patterns. Due to an increase in human activity within the past 200 years, climate change is becoming more and more prominent. One human activity that pushes climate change is the burnings of fossil fuels. Burning fossil fuels emit gases that trap and store heat in the atmosphere, which in turn heats up the Earth. Along with the warming of the Earth, the weather patterns can become very sporadic and unstable, which makes farming even more complicated to manage.
As we see, climate change makes farming very tough to determine a pattern in the climate. However, scientists have created climate models. Climate modeling creates environmental scenarios that show factors that can affect climate patterns, which helps farmers to make informative decisions about their crops due to climate change. However, with hindrance of climate changes continuously happening, the farmers must use adaptation strategies to stay on top of changes.
Farmers also use adaptation tools to work around the effects of climate change. One of the adaptation tools farmers use is called Crop breeding. Crop breeding is a form of biotechnology that scientifically changes the traits of the plants for the desired product. This not only affects the growth of the plant resisting climate change variance but also incorporates nutrients of other plants into the singular plant (plant genetics) as well making the plant or product become a multipurpose product. This new product is called a genetically modified organism (GMO). Another skill farmers can adopt is by adding a cropping system that mixes several different crops to grow at the same time. Instead of producing one type of plant when they are in season, farmers can grow multiple different plants and products. This is also in tandem with crop breeding, creating stronger and effective cropping systems. Having cropping systems like this also increases the number of products farmers produce each season.
In conclusion, climate change is a huge hindrance in the agriculture field and causes many farmers to jump over multiple hurdles to produce goods, like how the produce was 200 years ago. However, climate change is here to stay for a long while, not even for the next hundred years. Farmers must always understand how climate change willaffect their crops ahead of time adjust the production of their goods effectively.
Sources
- Climate Change – Soil | Soil Science Society of America. https://www.soils.org/files/science-policy/caucus/briefings/climate-change.pdf.
- admin, Post author By. “A Safe, Sustainable Food System.” Food & Water Watch, 22 Apr. 2021, https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2021/03/08/a-safe-sustainable-food-system/.
- “Climate Impacts on Agriculture and Food Supply.” EPA, Environmental Protection Agency, 6 Oct. 2016, https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/climate-impacts-agriculture-and-food-supply_.html#:~:text=Climate%20change%20can%20disrupt%20food,result%20in%20reduced%20agricultural%20productivity.
- Perry, David, Digital Member. “Global Farmers Can Take on Climate Change. Here’s How.” World Economic Forum, https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2019/07/agriculture-climate-change-solution/.
I apologize for send this message late, I thought that I had sent this part as well to everyone. I just checked this part and I did not, so here are the sources I used.
