Elena Idell | California Climate & Agriculture Network

What are farmers around the world doing to prepare for climate change?

Farmers around the globe are experiencing the impacts of a changing climate. However, we don’t have to wait to see what happens to our food and farming systems. It’s possible to take proactive action now to address climate change. And some countries are doing just that.

Australia and Scotland both have innovative agriculture and climate change programs that combine farmer know-how and science to ensure sustainable farming systems for the years to come.

Australia

Australia’s Farming Future is the government-run program that assists farmers in preparing for climate change. It includes the Climate Change Research Program, the FarmReady Program, and the Climate Change Adjustment Program.

The Climate Change Research Program provides on-farm demonstrations and research on how changes in farming practices can help with climate change adaptation and mitigation of climate change for primary agricultural industries, focusing on the management of soils in farming practices, reducing greenhouse gas pollution, and adapting practices to climate change. This research program is large scale, involving various research providers, industry groups, and universities, and represents the first steps toward Australia’s solutions to climate change.

The FarmReady program is a grant program involving training farmers, indigenous land managers and farming groups in ways to develop practices for responding to the impacts of climate change. The program provides grant funding for producers to train their staff in new practices to adapt to climate change as well as undertake projects for adapting to climate change. The two grants available are the FarmReady Reimbursement Grants, which allow producers and industries to receive up to $1,500 (AUD) for training courses, and the FarmReady Industry Grants, which allow up to $80,000 (AUD) per year for the installation of farm management practices for adjusting to climate change impacts.

The Climate Change Adjustment Program is an advice, counseling, and assessment program that also aims to help producers and industries manage the impacts of climate change through training grants, financial assessment, and business analysis. This program allows farmers to use the assistance of the government to re-evaluate farming practices and create a Climate Change Action Plan for an industry in order to better its farming practices and prepare for the impacts of global warming.

The Torr Farm participates in Scotland's Climate Change Focus Farms Initiative.

Scotland

The Scottish Agricultural College’s program Farming For a Better Climate (FBCC) provides research opportunities, planning and information on ways that farmers can reduce greenhouse gas emissions and address climate change.

A related initiative, the Climate Change Focus Farms Initiative, works with four farms to demonstrate practical approaches to climate change. Through the program, each operation seeks to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions and use practices that increase farm resilience to climate change. These farms are part of the program run by the government-funded Scottish Agricultural College FBCC initiative that works toward climate change research and mitigation.

One of the participating farms is Torr Farm, an organic dairy farm that uses clovers to fix nitrogen in the soil and uses nitrous oxide monitoring chambers to monitor how much nitrous oxide is released from the soils. Stewart Tower Farm is in the process of working toward combating climate change by taking account of the nutrients in farmyard manure as well as using inorganic fertilizers more efficiently.

Maintaining a viable food production base in the face of climate change is central for our health and security. By combining research, on-farm demonstration, training, and technical support Australia and Scotland are taking steps to ensure that agriculture is ready for a changing climate. There’s no reason California and the rest of the United States cannot do the same.

Southwest Drought Offers Key Lesson – Act Now to Reduce Drought Impacts

AP Photo/Austin American Statesman, Jay Jenner

Several southwest states are in the midst of an epic drought that is causing billions of dollars in crop and livestock losses, rising food prices and uncertainty.

Climatologists predict that the current drought in the southwest could last up to 12 months or even continue into years to follow, posing deep challenges for the farmers and ranchers dependent on steady water supplies.

There are valuable lessons to be learned from our fellow southwest states, particularly Texas.

Drought losses for the agricultural industry in Texas are nearing $9 billion. Without adequate water to care for their livestock, cattle ranchers are culling herds and facing significant loss of profits and rising cattle prices.

The Lubbock area, the state’s main cotton production area, faces $2.3 billion in losses from the drought. Cotton farmers believe their industry will survive on irrigation, but cattle farmers will need a few years to recover from reduced herds.

The main lesson: Texas agriculture was not prepared for this extreme event. Because the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not consider a drought a disaster, farmers can only receive limited aid from the federal government, making it an even tougher situation to deal with in the short and long run.

The detrimental effects of this disastrous event demonstrate the need for Californians to become aware of the potential harms that a severe water shortage could pose for farmers, ranchers and the state’s food consumers. And as the saying goes – an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

The climate models for California suggest that our state will see more extreme weather events, like intensified floods and droughts, in this century.

According to the California’s Natural Resources Agency’s 2009 California Climate Adaption Strategy report, California will face various challenges because of changing precipitation patterns in the coming years and decades, among them reduced water supply from our main water source, the Sierra Snowpack, and growing competition between urban, agriculture and environmental water users.

We need to act now. California can take the lead in addressing these issues by providing resources for the state’s farmers and ranchers to use water stewardship practices on their operations that promote efficiency, groundwater recharge and conservation.

We also need to reinvigorate funding for the UC Cooperative Extension, which provides the backbone of technical assistance for the state’s farmers and ranchers on key concerns like water stewardship. But Cooperative Extension budget cuts have meant dramatic cuts to services at a time when the issues facing producers are more complex than ever.

Let’s learn some lessons from our southwest neighbors and take action by investing in water stewardship now – it’s good for farmers, eaters and our environment.

What are farmers around the world doing to prepare for climate change?

Southwest Drought Offers Key Lesson – Act Now to Reduce Drought Impacts

Investing in Sustainable Agricultural Solutions to Climate Change

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