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Two U.S. Department of Agriculture reports say U.S. agriculture and forests are being
affected and will continue to be affected by climate change. It’s well documented
that the climate is changing, that we are seeing changes in temperature and in changes
precipitation patterns, and that those changes are having implications for forests and for
agriculture. What these reports actually look at in more detail are the changes that we
expect in changes in terms of extreme events. Changes in the probability of droughts, and
floods and how that also will have implications for our resources. However, Hohenstein (ho-en-stine)
says existing and new conservation practices and research will help U.S. agriculture and
forestry adapt to climate change. As it turns out a lot of the conservation practices that
we’ve been preaching for the last century, improved soil quality, improved water management,
forest health, turn out to be the exact same things that we do to make our resources more
resilient to extremes and change. If we can breed crops to be more resilient to change,
and to have better tolerance to extreme temperatures during those critical times, we can make sure
that we are going to be able to continue to produce the kinds of crops that we do now.
There are certain breeds of livestock that are more tolerant to warm temperatures, and
then there’s also things that farmers can do like cooling systems for barns and investments
that they can make to make their livestock more tolerant. Hohenstein says while there
will be negative effects from climate change, some agriculture sectors could benefit. Longer
growing seasons. In some cases increases in precipitation and more moisture that’s available.
And then CO2 itself; carbon dioxide turns out to have a fertilizing effect on plants
and so it can increase plant growth. And so at least over the next twenty to thirty years
we expect to see a very mixed story in terms of how climate change plays out on the landscape.
The climate change reports are available on USDA’s website. In Washington D.C. for the
U.S. Department of Agriculture, I’m Bob Ellison.