Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
amount of water animals needed to stay healthy. Strong wet winds would have an
adverse effect on animals, particularly in cold climates; however, they would have
little effect on pant growth.
An indirect effect of increased windiness would be an increase in soil erosion by
wind. This would mean that additional soil conservation steps would need to be
taken by farmers to protect soil from erosion and to protect plants from blowing soil,
which can damage plant leaves and decrease yield as noted above.
The potential effect of increased storm intensity is hard to predict. Increased storm
activity could increase rainfall in dryer climates. This could increase crop productivity.
On the other hand increased rainfall could lead to prolonged saturation of soil and to
flooding, both of which would lead to destruction of crops. The overall effect on
food availability would depend on the time and nature of the rainfall or storm event,
that is, in a food producing time frame, a highly unpredictable situation.
One other possible adverse effect of increased storminess is hail. This would
be hail stones, frozen water at times 2 to 3 cm in diameter and sometimes larger,
falling from the sky during relatively warm periods, that is, when crops are growing.
Hale will destroy leaves and stems and beat down crops, thus effectively dest-
roying crops. Only certain storm events are likely to produce hail; however, as stormi-
ness increases, it can be assumed that there will be a corresponding increase in
hail storms.
All forms of storms can have adverse effects on transport and storage of farm
produce and thus lead to a loss of food. Interruption of transport by destruction of
roads and rail lines and the downing of power lines will all adversely affect food avail-
ability.
Both
dryer
and
wetter
conditions
lead
to
a
decrease
shelf
life
of
agricultural produce.
On the one hand global warming and increased carbon dioxide in the atmosphere
will lead to increased plant growth and productivity and thus to increase food pro-
duction. On the other hand increased storminess could offset these increases and
result in no increase in food availability or a decrease in food production.
8.12
CONCLUSIONS
Both the K¨ ppen and Thornthwaite climate classifications are useful in understanding
conditions that affect the crops that can be grown productively in a locality. Rainfall,
temperature, and day length are three of the most important climatic conditions that
control plant growth. In addition altitude can have a significant effect in that the temp-
erature decreases as altitude increases. Humidity can also affect crop production in that
it can control viability of pollen and the growth of destructive microorganisms. The
heat degree days concept is one important way of finding if there are enough warm
days to allow a crop to come to maturity in a given locality. Adverse weather con-
ditions, high winds, heavy rainfall, and hail can cause yield decreases or even total
crop destruction. Global climate change will have positive, neutral, and negative
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