14 Ate Today? Thank a Farmer. Better Farming | November 2024 Research & Farm Science A sweeping global research review of the links between climate and agriculture reveals the likelihood of an emergent feedback loop whereby, as climate change puts more pressure on the global food supply, agriculture will, by necessity, adopt practices that may exacerbate its environmental impact. This research, published in Science, includes an extensive evaluation of experts, including from Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. The paper also identifies new agricultural practices that have the potential to increase efficiency and stabilize our food supply in the decades to come. The authors point out that greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture are now 18 times higher than they were in the 1960s, accounting for about 30 per cent of global warming. Excess fertilizer left on farm soil is broken down by bacteria to form nitrous oxide, a greenhouse gas that is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide. Strategic efforts to reduce the warming impact of agriculture while maintaining high yields are essential to both mitigating climate change and protecting our food supply from its impacts. “It is important to recognize that the impact of agriculture on public health, from pesticide usage to water quality, is almost certainly going to be exacerbated with climate change,” said Lewis Ziska, PhD, associate professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health and a co-author. The research found: Climate change has broad-ranging impacts on agricultural practices, Continued on Page 16 Researchers are looking at the relationship between agriculture and climate change. JJ Gouin/iStock/Getty Images Plus photo CLIMATE COLLAPSE & FARMING PRACTICES Climate change exacerbates environmental impacts of agriculture. From Columbia Mailman School of Public Health
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