by Michael Smith (Veshengro)
Nigh on 40% of all farm businesses in Britain are being affected by climate change, according to a survey of UK farmers.
Carried out by “Farming Futures”, a collaboration between farming organizations, DEFRA and sustainable development charity “Forum for the Future”, the survey found 60% of farmers think climate change will influence their business over the next decade.
A third of farmers are already adapting to the impacts of global warming, while almost half are acting to reduce emissions and to lessen the effects of climate change, the survey states.
While farmers think climate change will bring some threats such as floods and droughts, most also think it will bring opportunities, such as prospects for growing alternative crops in a warmer climate, it adds.
I would hate to burst their balloon but personally I am not, as yet, convinced that that is going to happen and be a course of action, nor should it have to be.
Of those farmers already making changes to their business, 26% are managing water more efficiently, 16% are changing crop practices and 11% are growing different crops.
One of the most significant impacts of climate change will be on water availability. Hotter, drier summers and the pressures of a growing population mean that growers are going to have to produce more crop per drop.
Water conservation will be a necessary part of it and maybe some of the water used on farms should come from rainwater harvesting.
On the other hand, if farms actually would, once again, become smaller and farms the size they used to be could be allowed to flourish much of that irrigation problem would be dispersed with, as much water is lost in current irrigation of the huge fields.
Almost half of those surveyed believe farming could be part of the climate change solution and are already acting to reduce emissions. The majority of these (47%) are improving energy efficiency, with 15% producing their own energy, 15% increasing fuel efficiencies and 10% improving manure management.
In order to meet the government target to reduce emissions from farming by 11% by 2020, the priorities of which include reducing fuel use with more efficient machinery, opting for alternative energy sources and reducing fertilizer use, 82% of those questioned agreed farmers should work together to help reduce emissions. Ideas included co-operatives to share machinery, erect bio-digesters or wind farms and making best use of manure and fertilizers.
A different practice in farming, especially in the arable sector, must also be considered, namely one of low- or no tillage. Plowing the ground releases soil carbons as CO2 which would be much better left in the soil and that not just so those carbons don't get into the atmosphere.
Carbon loss in soil actually decreases the soil's fertility and no amount of artificial fertilizers can ever bring that back. In fact, petrol-chemicals-based fertilizers do not benefit the soil at all.
All we are seeing, however, is bigger farms, bigger plows and more and more application of chemicals, destroying the soil and the rest of the environment all along and all in the name of profit.
Copyright © Michael Smith 2010
