Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
1
Introduction
Abstract
In the last decade, an overwhelming consensus has emerged among scien-
tists that the world has entered an era of rapid global climate change, much
of which is attributable to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human
activity. Rapid global climate change is expected to impact agriculture by
causing shifts in temperature, precipitation, soil quality, pest regimes, and
seasonal growth patterns. The exact nature and degree of these changes for
any given region will be diffi cult to predict. At the same time that the agri-
cultural sector is impacted by climate change, research indicates that cur-
rent agricultural activities are a signifi cant source of greenhouse gases that
aggravate climate disruption. The amount of GHGs emitted from an agri-
cultural operation depends on its system and management.
To cope with climate change that is likely to be both rapid and unpre-
dictable, agricultural systems must be resilient and able to adapt to change.
Resilient agriculture systems are those that are more likely to maintain
economic, ecological, and social benefi ts in the face of dramatic exoge-
nous changes such as climate change and price swings. In the face of
uncertainty, food production systems should be established which are
diverse and relatively fl exible, with integration and coordination of live-
stock and crop production.
Sustainable and organic agricultural systems can help reduce agricul-
tural GHG emissions through energy conservation, lower levels of carbon-
based inputs, lower use of synthetic fertilizer, and other features that
minimize GHG emissions and sequester carbon in the soil. Agricultural
land can serve as a sink for GHG emissions, especially through soil carbon
sequestration, which could help moderate climate change. But agricultural
land can serve as an effective GHG sink over the long term only if agricul-
tural systems are adopted which improve overall soil quality and provide
for relatively stable GHG reduction or sequestration. Agricultural crop and
forage production system features include, among others, fertilizer use
and effi ciency, nitrogen sequestration, and overall GHG emissions of asso-
ciated livestock production systems.
