Climate change will affect agriculture

Climate change will affect agriculture over the next 30 to 50 years and will require scientists and farmers to develop new systems to adapt to more variable weather patterns. Jerry Hatfield, Laboratory Director and USDA-ARS Supervisory Plant Physiologist at Ames, Iowa, said more extremes in weather, including drought, heat and excessive rainfall, will increase production risk.

He said variability in temperature and precipitation has affected agriculture since the early 1900s. In some cases, higher temperatures have increased yields. “But that also increased variability,” he said. Cotton and corn yields have increased significantly over the past century. A big part of the increase results from better cotton varieties and transgenics and improved corn hybrids.

Precipitation will change, as well.  He said the United States as a whole experiences extremely variable rates of precipitation. “Since 1901 some areas have gotten drier and some have become wetter.” The Southwest falls into the drier category, as does the Southeast. Read more...

This blog is written by Martin Little The Global Miller, published and supported by the GFMT Magazine from Perendale Publishers.