Agriculture and Climate
Agriculture and climate are closely interconnected, as climate factors such as temperature, precipitation, and extreme weather events significantly impact agricultural productivity. Changes in climate patterns can lead to shifts in suitable growing regions, affecting crop yields and food security. Adaptation strategies, such as crop diversification and water management, are crucial for mitigating the effects of climate change on agriculture.
7 Key excerpts on "Agriculture and Climate"
eBook - ePub- Brian Dawson, Matt Spannagle(Authors)
- 2008(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SUPPLY IMPACTS The impacts of climate change on agriculture must be viewed in the context of ever-increasing demand for food and agricultural products. Agriculture currently accounts for nearly a quarter of world economic output and employment. 1 The world’s population is growing rapidly, rising from 2.5 billion in 1950 to 6.5 billion in 2005 and to an expected 9 billion by 2050. 2 As per capita incomes rise in industrializing countries such as China and India, so too will the demand for food and, in particular, meat—which will in turn necessitate increases in fodder crop supplies. If biofuels production also expands, so too will the area devoted to source crops. Global crop production will have to increase significantly over the coming decades to meet these demands. 3 Under normal circumstances, ongoing improvements in crop yields (due to technical advances and irrigation) and expansion of the amount of land under crop might be sufficient to meet the growing demand. However, “normal circumstances” are unlikely to prevail over the coming decades since climate change is expected to affect the environmental factors that determine global crop production. Crop yields and agricultural production are primarily determined by soil moisture, temperature, sunlight, and soil fertility. Over the course of this century, climate change is expected to lead to higher average global temperatures, changes in annual and seasonal precipitation patterns (see water impacts), and increases in the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Elevated concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO 2) could also influence crop yields through the CO 2 fertilization effect. These factors will fundamentally alter crop yields and the distribution of agricultural production. In some regions, changes in climatic conditions might improve crop yields, as is expected in the higher latitudes of Europe and North America...
eBook - ePubCurrent Developments in Biotechnology and Bioengineering
Crop Modification, Nutrition, and Food Production
- Suresh Kumar Dubey, Ashok Pandey, Rajender Singh Sangwan(Authors)
- 2016(Publication Date)
- Elsevier(Publisher)
...Worldwide agricultural production is governed by the combination of climate, soil tilth, technology, genetic resources, and farm management decisions such as tillage, manure and fertilizer applications, and crop variety selection [ 8, 13, 35 – 40 ]. Uncertainties related to the representation of CO 2, nitrogen, and high-temperature effects demonstrated that further research is urgently needed to better understand effects of climate change on agricultural production and to devise targeted adaptation strategies [41]. The question thus arises, how can productivity be increased while ensuring the sustainability of agriculture and the environment for future generations? Decision makers need information supplied by research to make informed choices about new agricultural technologies and to devise and implement policies to enhance food production and sustainability. There is now great concern about the decline in soil fertility, the change in the water table, rising salinity, resistance to many pesticides, and the degradation of irrigation water quality in some parts of the world [ 42 – 45 ]. It is clear that over time more nutrients have been removed than added through fertilizers, and farmers have to apply more fertilizers to achieve the same yield they were getting with less fertilizer 20–30 years ago. Climate change will further affect soil conditions. Changes in temperature and precipitation patterns and amount will influence soil water content, runoff and erosion, salinization, biodiversity, and organic carbon and nitrogen content. The increase in temperature would also lead to increased evapotranspiration. The specific regional soil-related problems are closely linked to the global environmental change. Therefore, there is a need to quantify the effect of this change on the soil-fertility and function that governs the crop growth and production. Global warming may also threaten food security if there is a negative effect on agriculture...
eBook - ePubThe Human Impact of Climate Uncertainty
Weather Information, Economic Planning, and Business Management
- W. J. Maunder(Author)
- 2019(Publication Date)
- Routledge(Publisher)
...An OverviewRelationships between agricultural production and climate are usually assessed through the development of agroclimatological models. Some of these models attempt to mirror the physical processes that actually cause variations in agricultural production (such as soil water availability), but in many cases a statistical relationship is established such as linking rainfall and temperature variations with variations in wheat or rice production. These statistical models do not ‘explain’ environmental processes, but they do condense complex cause-and-effect linkages into useful associations.In general, climate and agricultural production models assess the significance of a weather/climate variation on either the productivity of ‘human-altered agricultural environments’ such as the Iowa corn field or the Korean rice paddy, or the productivity of the more ‘natural’ environments of the Australian merino sheep or the Wyoming range cattle. The economic, political, and strategic importance of being able to predict the significance of larger-scale weather and climate fluctuations on agricultural production also needs to be considered, particularly as this information contributes to national and global security.2. Dairy Production Forecasts: A New Zealand Example1New Zealand, the world’s largest exporter of dairy products, markets and sells its products in more than 100 countries. In this regard, the quality, and price of the products are very important, but of equal importance is the guarantee of a regular supply of specialized dairy products to an increasingly food-conscious world. This regular supply is largely dependent on the quantity and quality of production from the dairy farm; forecasts of production are therefore of paramount importance to decision-makers at all levels in the New Zealand dairy industry.Milkfat processed by dairy factories in New Zealand varies from year to year (e.g...
eBook - ePub- Bryan L. McDonald(Author)
- 2013(Publication Date)
- Polity(Publisher)
...The chapter considers environmental impacts in five major sectors: land and soil; water use and water quality; habitat and biodiversity loss; energy use; and climate change. The chapter concludes with a discussion of ways to reduce the environmental impact of agriculture and food production. This discussion focuses particular attention on the need to develop food systems that provide for human needs while also aiding efforts to both mitigate and adapt to processes of global environmental change, a process that I argue can be harmonized with efforts to increase agricultural sustainability. Impacts on land and soil Covering only about one-third of the earth’s surface, land is indispensable to agriculture and livestock production. These land resources, according to a definition by UNEP (2002) include soil, land cover, and landscapes. Land and soil provide a range of additional benefits, including regulating hydrological cycles and aiding in the preservation of biodiversity, carbon storage, and other ecosystem services (the resources and process provided by natural systems that are beneficial to human livelihoods and well-being). Though finite, the functional amounts of land and soil resources, along with water and nutrients, are, as Smil (2000) asserts, variable with management practices that considerably affect their quality and efficiency of use. Many current agricultural practices reduce the ability of ecosystems to provide goods and services such as carbon sequestration and soil retention and absorption of water. The amount of land under agricultural cultivation has increased steadily in developing regions while remaining largely constant in developed regions, with the largest gains in cultivable land made in the mid-twentieth century (UNEP 2008). Degradation and pollution of land resources, such as the overuse of fertilizers and other chemicals, has also occurred as a result of policy failures and unsustainable agricultural practices (UNEP 2002)...
eBook - ePubClimate Change and Plants
Biodiversity, Growth and Interactions
- Shah Fahad, Osman Sonmez, Shah Saud, Depeng Wang, Chao Wu, Muhammad Adnan, Veysel Turan, Shah Fahad, Osman Sonmez, Shah Saud, Depeng Wang, Chao Wu, Muhammad Adnan, Veysel Turan(Authors)
- 2021(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...CGE model being economy-wide model best explains the interactions between industries, consumers, and governments in the global economies. This could be due to the fact that climate change had direct effects on the economy by affecting its agricultural production and indirect effects by altering agricultural productions of other countries. 1.3 Effect of Climate Change on Agricultural Productivity Agricultural productivity is affected by climate change in different aspects, which originate from average annual temperature elevations, variable precipitation patterns, increase in the atmospheric CO 2 levels, and greenhouse gas emissions (Chijioke et al. 2011). Additionally, other constraints regarding temperature variations and irregular rainfall patterns have direct effects on the areas suitable for arid agriculture and crop water requirements, which could have effect on the agro-ecological potential of that area (Li et al. 2014). Rice cultivation practices contribute to the greater extents to the methane emissions, which is one of the major greenhouse gases (GHGs). Approximately 30% of methane and 11% of N 2 O are emitted from the rice fields globally (Usepa 2006). Organic matter (OM) significantly affects soil ecosystems in various aspects of biological, chemical, and physical processes. The soil organic carbon (SOC) is one of the major indicators of soil quality and health. Soil organic carbon contributes to the large share of carbon in the global carbon cycle, and it represents the dynamic balance between deposition and loss of carbon input, respiration, erosion, and leaching through photosynthesis...
eBook - ePub- Iqrar Ahmad Khan, Muhammad Sarwar Khan(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...The accelerating pace of change in climate is making situation more severe due to the occurrence of unprecedented events of weather. For the last 10 years, Asia has been facing serious threats because of CC and variability such as tsunamis, floods, and droughts. Extreme events are expected to have large negative impacts on crop productivity (Challinor et al. 2007; Wheeler et al. 2000). The most intense impacts of CC over the next few decades will be on food and agriculture systems. Some Asian countries, for example Pakistan and India in semiarid environments are at risk of rising temperatures and rainfall variability, which could result in increasing demands of water for agricultural production (Anwar et al. 2013). The rise in temperature and reduction in rainfall under semiarid environments are likely to reduce production of maize, wheat, rice, and minor crops in the coming 20 years (Lobell et al. 2008). Food security will substantially be affected by these adverse changes. Since the 1990s, increasing prices of different commodities along with decreasing cropped area per capita have caused reductions in food productivity. All these factors are eroding food security in many countries (Brown and Funk 2008). The term Climate refers to long-term weather conditions prevailing over a particular area and time, this time period may be 30 years. However, some scientists define climate as “… average weather conditions in particular region/place and time period.” However, weather is fundamentally the way in which the atmosphere is behaving. It mainly consists of the short-term atmospheric conditions prevailing over a particular area in a given time. Climate mainly controls the distribution of crops across the globe while weather primarily decides the productivity of crops. According to the fifth assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), CC is a change in the mean state of weather statistics over three decades of time period...
eBook - ePubClimate Change and Crop Production
Foundations for Agroecosystem Resilience
- Noureddine Benkeblia, Noureddine Benkeblia(Authors)
- 2018(Publication Date)
- CRC Press(Publisher)
...They demonstrate an integrative capacity to apply the skills to new and unique situations, moving beyond the methods of any single discipline to blend the methods of biophysical science with those of socioeconomic investigation in their thinking and their research. These are the types of capacities and competences needed to deal with issues related to climate change in agriculture. 11.10 Conclusions and Outlook Education that prepares graduates to deal with seemingly intractable problems such as system resilience in the face of climate change must go beyond the artificial boundaries of individual disciplines and specializations. Students learn the challenges faced by diverse stakeholders in farming and food systems and understand their incommensurable goals that may appear unique to each player in the system. Short-term production and profits, meeting local food needs while maintaining exports, using renewable resources efficiently while preserving non-renewable resources for the future, maintaining a quality environment for survival of humans and other species are among the challenges not easily addressed in compartmentalized approaches to research and development. Agroecology provides a platform to guide the needed education. There are broad goals to which everyone should subscribe: producing adequate food for a growing human population, creating a level of equity in distribution of food so that everyone can achieve their potential, and preserving a livable environment and quality of life. As summarized in the Brundtland Report (WCED 1987), we need to use resources to meet the needs of our current human population while not reducing opportunities for future generations to make their own choices. More than twenty years of experience using an agroecology approach in education in MSc and PhD courses confirm that the methods work, in different countries and cultures, and in diverse agroecoregions and economic systems...
