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Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture
Global warming and its effects on agriculture
Global warming and its effects on agriculture
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With the rapid growth of our global population pouring into the next millennium, we will witness an ever-growing hunger rate around the world. That is unless we call for a revolution on the global scale. The Green Revolution which already sprouted in the early part of the century only need to add a bit more momentum and we will see a bright future for the human race, a future without hunger and starvation ¡V hopefully.It is becoming increasingly difficult for the planet to support its overwhelming population. And since the amount of arable land available is becoming scarce, we must seek ways to dramatically improve crop yields of existing cropland.
By implementing new farming techniques provided with the new technological advances in machines we can see abundant harvest in even the poorest third world countries. For example, the Green Revolution has already showed admirable progress in the northern part of India ever since it took start in 1950. By 1997, northern India increased its grain production by 37 percent. This has proven that traditional farming methods are being rendered obsolete. And because by the year 2000, there will be half the land per person in developing countries as there was in 1970, we need to apply ultra-efficient methods to sustain the growing need. Not only does the Green Revolution enhances food output, it also preserves the environment.
Traditional agriculture requires massive forest and grassland removal to obtain land necessary to farm on. Deforestation and overgrazing has caused erosion flooding, and enabled the expansion of deserts. But with drainage systems, leveling, and irrigation provided by the Green Rev, all this terra deforming will unlikely happen again. We can retain clean air and lessen the global warming effect caused by deforestation.Many people argue that a revamp in agriculture will be way too expensive and unrealistic especially for those poor farmers in third world countries. However many times, they exaggerate the price.
In reality, farmers who take the first step in the revolution will most likely succeed and will have more money to invest in further development such as irrigation systems and wells and machineries.
Even though the green revolution has stopped starvation in some parts of the world, it has also caused some. The green revolution was the use of new technology to grow food for the people of the world that started in the 1950’s. These new technologies include such things as Gmo’s, pesticides, fertilizers. The main goal was to stop hunger and make second and third world countries better and not living in poverty. The green revolution raised the amount of food in the world, made the world's population increase at a dangerous rate and harmed and damaged the earth and its people.
With an ever increasing world population, massive third world hunger, and with an estimation that a child dies for every two seconds world-wide from starvation; this does not even take into account the number of people who are mal and undernourished, there is a great promise in the use of this technology to benefit not only the farmers, but also societies worldwide. We have been able to genetically modify plants so that they may be more resistant to insects, so that there is less pesticidal toxins sprayed. We have designed plants that require less water, less soil nutrients, preserving precious recourses. We have designed plants with higher yield, shorter seasons, plants that need less land to grow; we are said to be living in a time where we have the healthiest, most well-tested plants in the history of this
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
However, you have to delve deeper to find out what we just covered. The Greenpeace visage on the surface is entirely different from what it actually is underneath, and they use that to solidify how they manage to get people to donate. They simply appeal to a persons’ emotions and human nature. Now if you ask me, that whole selling strategy is unethical at best. So why does it seem to work so well? Humans are intellectual beings; in fact, we are the only known sentient beings in the universe. Therefore, we have to stick together, right? People don’t generally use that thought process when choosing to donate to a company such as Greenpeace, but the outcome is the same. If you are given the opportunity to do something to feel as if you’ve
In this essay, the effects of climate change on agriculture and how to manage it shall be discussed. Climate change has and will greatly affect agriculture. As time progresses, the effects of climate change will worsen and become detrimental. Mendelsohn and Dinar (2009:1) state,” if future climate scenarios lead to a widespread reduction in food supply, there could be massive problems with hunger and starvation”. Climate change is a change in global climate patterns which is mainly caused by the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by fossil fuels. The writer chose this topic because climate change is a global problem that will pose a threat to people’s lives around the world and must be dealt with sooner than later.
“According to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations’ global hunger data, more than 10% – about 800 million people – are undernourished and do not have enough food to lead healthy, active lives (Farmers Weekly). Global food shortages are a day to day issue that all organisms on Earth suffers. Biofuels are a huge part of global food shortages because it is made from the oils of plants which could be converted into food. Biofuels are produced from plants that are burned in furnaces or diesel engines. The the oil from those burned plants is mixed with petroleum, furthermore this process creates biofuels. Biofuels mainly consist of corn which could be used as food instead. Farming techniques are very important to the food shortages too. Without proper farming techniques crops wouldn’t be growing as well as the plants are today. Hydroponics can help this
As the global population continues to rise, the amount of food needed to feed the people will increase as well. Two types of agriculture systems have been the backbone for crop production for decades if not centuries: conventional and organic agriculture— both methods could not be any more different. Conventional agriculture, a method that uses synthetic chemical pesticides, technologies or additives, and practices that are unsustainable is the leading producer for our food. On the other side of spectrum, organic agriculture generally, performed in a much smaller scale, does not use synthetic chemicals and utilize methods that are environmentally sound. Most conventional
Improvements in the socio-economic patterns in India, China, Brazil and few other developing countries have opened new channels & opportunities for precision agriculture in these countries (Mondal, P. and Basu, M., 2009)”. India is a land of agriculture with large numbers of crops cultivated and the major pulses like wheat, pulses, rice, cotton, maize within top 10 in the world. However, when you take into consideration the ranking on quality wise it does not reach high. Although crops are being grown in India, The ratio of fertilizers used per area and the nutrition needs of the plants are not met. It is almost 3-5 times lesser to what is used in developed countries. With PA, you can achieve this needs of the plants, but studying the crop, soil and terrains. With the recent advancement in ISRO (Indian Satellite Research Organization) launching GPS and the IT revolution has changed the Indian environment making inroads for new scopes in farm sectors. There is also a misinterpretation that these technologies cannot be used in small scale farms. There are few technologies like chlorophyll meter (SPAD) and leaf colour chart (LCC) hand held portable devices to determine the timing of crop and the nutrient content. Government has been supportive in encouraging growers in small community to use GIS systems, and internet to understand the
One way for the population of today and tomorrow to live in harmony in regards to nourishment provided by the environment is to be able to intensify agricultural yields. With a projected population of 10 billion people, an increase of global average grain yields from 2 to 5 tons of grain per hectare would ensure a per capita diet of 6,000 calories and would save a land area twice the size of Alaska (Waggoner, 1994). Most of the world’s increased output is no longer a result of expansion of area used in agriculture, but resulting from the intensification of production on existing agricultural areas.
In the past, there was enough land for everyone to have some, and an increase in population just means to bring more land in to use. Getting this new land is not a simple task and it resulted in the expansion of farming activities to erosion prone marginal areas, serious deforestation, and a decrease in fallow period and continues cultivation (Habtamu, 2006; Hussen,
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will:
Scientists say that farmers need to produce 50-100 percent more food than they already do now.... ... middle of paper ... ... Chances are farmers aren’t going to pack up everything to adapt to a new farming method that is just too expensive for the farmers.
The Green movement began in the Western World during the 1970’s around the time of the Vietnam War. The green movement is a social movement regarding concerns for environmental conservation and improvements to the current health of the environment. The Green movement also promotes the conservation, restoration, and the overall improvement of our environment. Many people disagree with the green movement and its values because they don’t see the immediate benefits from them. However, supporting the green movement by recycling, researching alternative energy sources, and mandating eco-friendly laws will lead to a better, greener, country.
The global population in the year 2050 is expected to be nine billion and the agricultural demand is expected to double. With the current population already over seven billion people, there are hunger issues all around the world (“New” par. 1). How are we going to deal with food shortages in the future? With less land to work with, strains on the soils, and the lack of water, it is getting harder for the farmers of the world to support our growing population. These complications are making it harder for farmers to produce quality, affordable food. To help the crops grow better, farmers use fertilizers and chemical sprays to enhance growth and control the weeds. Farming in the United States is a relevant business because it supplies people with food, provides people with jobs maintaining the used equipment with the new equipment being much more expensive, and it provides research for more efficient ways on how to feed the world.