Global Warming and Agriculture
Global warming has been a major topic of environmental concern over the past several decades. The International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has recently predicted a 1 to 3.5 degree Celsius increase in average atmospheric temperature above 1990 levels by the year 2100. Although this temperature increase may seem small, even an increase or decrease of a few degrees in atmospheric temperature is capable of causing drastic alterations in the agricultural process, among many other everyday issues. Though many studies have been done on the probable effects of an increase in global mean temperature, much is still unknown or only guessed at, due to a general lack of deeper understanding of Earth?s very complex climate system. The effects of factors such as climate variability, water availability, and quality of adaptive response by farmers to the changing climate cannot be determined conclusively. This results in a rather wide range of variability in predictions of global warming effects on Earth?s various regions. Even specific temperature and precipitation changes cannot be determined, as they will most likely vary greatly from region to region.
The most important factor in the success or failure of a harvest is a sufficiently moist soil during the growing season. A global increase in atmospheric temperatures most probably will cause a general increase in the frequency and duration of droughts and heavy rains, both damaging to agricultural crops. Extended droughts, such as the massive drought of the 1930s known as the ?Dust Bowl,? have throughout history been the causes of massive crop failures. As the Earth?s temperature continues to rise, water supply problems will become more and more o...
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...erature and carbon dioxide levels. America and its farmers face a difficult task in preparing for the effects of changing climate on agriculture.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
http://www.epa.gov/globalwarming/impacts/index.html
http://www.usgcrp.gov/usgcrp/9717DD.html
http://climatechange.gc.ca/english/html/impacts.html
http://www.gcrio.org/ipcc/qa/cover.html
http://www.gcrio.org/gwcc/part2.html
http://www.whitehouse.gov/Initiatives/Climate/vulnerabilities.html
Due to the populations’ spartic increase population expansion became an issue. Humans were forced to take land from surrounding habitats in order to create their own. The destruction of forests and greenlands caused deforestation, animal endangerment, and extinction, “Agriculture is estimated to be the direct driver for around 80% of deforestation worldwide” (Wageningen University). While this occurred crops gradually depleted almost all the nutrients from the soil leaving areas bare and unable to unable to sustain plant life. Making acres useless to humans or animals and in return humans had to reach farther into inhabited areas in order to find fertile land. The sudden environmental burden in carbon dioxide from increased population and decrease in forest a plants to convert the high carbon dioxide levels produced an environmental issue which affects climate and the seasonal cycles. Recent research shows that “In Latin America, commercial agriculture is the main direct driver, responsible for 2/3 of all cut forests, while in Africa and tropical Asia commercial agriculture and subsistence agriculture both account for one third of deforestation”(Wageningen University).When viewing the change from hunter-gathering to farming from a global perspective the transition was very selfish of
One of the impacts of climate change is that as the temperatures in cooler parts of the world change and become warmer, this will allow that place to be more habitable to other different types of food crops, thus expanding the area in which these crops can be grown. For example, less frequent freezes will allow crops like citrus to be planted and gro...
Climate change is on the international policy agenda primarily because of warnings from scientists. Their forecasts of a potentially dangerous increase in the average global temperature, fortuitously assisted by unusual weather events, have prompted governments to enter into perhaps the most complicated and most significant set of negotiations ever attempted. Key questions - the rapidity of global climate change, its effects on the natural systems on which humans depend, and the options available to lessen or adapt to such change - have energized the scientific and related communities in analyses that are deeply dependent on scientific evidence and research.
Global warming is a problem that is often overlooked by many and is hindered among other problems that require immediate actions. Over the last 136 years the temperature in earth has increased 1.7°¬¬¬F. Although an increase of 1.7°¬¬¬F over 136 years may not seem like a lot but humans are destroying the earth at a faster rate than ever before. Human omissions are roughly equal to 4 Hiroshima atomic bombs exploding across the planet every second leaving future generations of human in jeopardy. With warmer climate comes with catastrophic outcomes like drought, which can destabilize the food sources on earth leaving millions of people hungry. Widespread extinction of most species on earth and the melting of polar ice caps can raise the sea level leaving most of the world’s coastal cities under water. This cannot happen overnight but if humans keep omitting at the current rate the outcome of climate change will become prominent
While it is evident that climate change will greatly affect temperature and precipitation over the coming decades, these changes in patterns will also have numerous effects on agriculture as extreme weather events can lead to disruptions within the food system. Climate change will make it more difficult to produce enough food for the world’s increasing population due to the alterations of planting and harvesting times, as well as the accessibility and quality of water. The USDA Technical Report found that increases in temperature, coupled with more variable precipitation, would reduce productivity of crops, with these effects outweighing any benefits of increasing CO2 (Murray 4). Along with the reduction of crop productivity will be an increase
The changes in the quantity and timing of precipitation and the availability of water will profoundly affect people and other life forms. Ecosystems will change and wildlife behavior and habitat as well as crop yields will eventually be affected. Climate change will also have an impact on water-related economic activity – not just agricultural methods, for example skiing areas, may experience decreased snowfall, having an adverse impact on the economies of mountain towns and cities.
Global warming is a major concern among the study of biology. Global warming will lead to drastic changes to Earth. There are so many problems that global warming affects, but the one thing that may be overlooked at times is how global warming will affect local farms leading to a decrease in food supply. New Jersey farms will become greatly affected by global warming causing decrease in food supply in the Mid-Atlantic. At the rate the Earth’s temperature is changing, many people locally will experience differences in the amount of food that is available.
The world needs to think of how the climate is changing the food supply of the earth. The climate is doing some really bad things to the earth. The atmosphere is also not in good shape because of climate change. Humans now need to think of how climate change is affecting people. Climate change is affecting the food supply of the world.
Throughout history climates have drastically changed. There have been shifts from warm climates to the Ice Ages (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.204). Evidence suggests there have been at least a dozen abrupt climate changes throughout the history of the earth. There are a few suspected reasons for these past climate changes. One reason may be that asteroids hitting the earth and volcanic eruptions caused some of them. A further assumption is that 22-year solar magnetic cycles and 11-year sunspot cycles played a part in the changes. A further possibility is that a regular shifting in the angle of the moon orbiting earth causing changing tides and atmospheric circulation affects the global climate (Cunningham & Cunningham, 2009, p.205). Scientific studies suggest that all these played a role in past global warming and cooling periods. Today, however, there is a lot of conflict on whether humans are causing a global warming that could be disastrous to humans and all species of plants and animals on this earth. This paper will first explain the greenhouse effect, then take a look at both sides argument, and, finally, analyze the effect of global warming on world-wide sustainability
Global Warming, much of what does or does not happen forty years from now rests on our actions or inactions taken between now and then. The crucial question is whether we should pour all our resources into mitigation – reducing our carbon emissions. According to scientists who study the climate there are other environmental problems; “we now face a global crises in land use and agriculture that could undermine the health, security, and sustainability of our civilization”.
Farming has always been challenging, some years conditions roll in the favor of the farmer; most years the farmer has to do the best possible without full cooperation of nature. Understanding ecological principles and how those principles can be utilized, to improve crop performance, is useful for the farmer. This will surely become even more true as climate change brings new challenges and opportunities within the agricultural industry. Of the many agroecological principles which will have value to farmers, as environmental factors change, adaption will be the most necessary to ensuring food security.
...cause and effect relationship of climate and human activity, and climate and human need, the ability to redesign the way we produce and cultivate food staples can be created. With this ability the longevity of agricultural systems can influence a decrease in food prices, in turn increasing the number of food secure populations.
Climate change is one of the major issues surfacing earth over the past century. The earth’s temperature has increased over the years leading to detrimental effects on the economic and life sources of people, especially that of agricultural production and livestock. The Merriam-Webster online dictionary (2014), defined climate change as a change in global climate patterns apparent from the mid late 20th century. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, IPCC, (2007) predicts that by 2100 the increase in global average surface temperature may be between 1.8° C and 4.0° C. With increases of 1.5° C to 2.5° C, approximately 20 to 30 percent of plant and animal species are expected to be at risk of extinction. Moreover, the IPCC (2007) purported that climate change has severe consequences for food security in developing countries. There are numerous factors that are solely responsible for this change which are both natural and man-made. Climate change has led to a decrease in quality and quantity of plant produce and livestock because of heat stress, drought and an increase in plant and animal diseases.
Climate change is currently affecting agriculture because it is causing prolonged droughts, violent flooding, sea level to rise, and also health related issues. Droughts and flooding utterly affect agriculture because it damages cultivation since the amount of water applied to crops and farming is fundamental to the...
Agriculture is considered to be one of the most vulnerable sectors to climate change. Although at present, the overall impact of climate change on global scale agricultural productivity is not reliably estimated (Gornall et al., 2010). Many studies show serious implications on agricultural productivity for instance IFPRI(2009) projects that in South Asia by 2050 climate change will reduce production of rice, wheat and maize by 14%, 44% to 49% and 9%-19% respectively relative to no climate change situation. Historical temperature yield relationship indicates that at the global scale warming from 1981-2002 very likely offset some of the yield gains from technology advances, rising CO2 and other non climatic factors (Lobell and Field, 2007).