How Farmers Can Cope With Global Warming and Climate Change

Aisha Moon
Nov 14, 2024
9 min read

What Global Warming Challenges a Farmer Faces

In the context of global warming and climate change, an informed decision in farming involves knowing which crops are climate-adaptable, which ones add to the climate woes of the planet, which technologies to use to get an accurate prediction of and coping mechanism for extreme climate events, and so on.

The ideal situation for a farmer in this scenario could be to have evidence at hand about the past events of climate and geography in the region and also have an understanding of what the future holds. Resilience gains meaning in terms of anticipating future events, preparing for them, adapting to new situations, and recovering easily from extreme climate and weather events.

There is a set of strategies that farmers can adopt and practice so that they are not left helpless when an extreme climate event or a slow yet equally disastrous climate phenomenon occurs. In other words, the problems for a farmer preparing for a global climate change scenario are two-fold: one, a gradual temperature change, related changes in pest demography and disease patterns, and a change in rainfall patterns; two, frequent natural calamities such as droughts, floods, storms and so on.

To rightly assess the climate risk and develop risk preparedness are the two important steps that the farmers have to think about.

Regenerative Agriculture: A Remedy for Global Warming

The agriculture sector is one of the largest emitters of greenhouse gases—carbon dioxide, methane, etc.—and accounts for 25 per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions on the planet. How to reshape agriculture to reduce these emissions is the key to sustainable farming as well as living on this planet. Regenerative agriculture is the term used to talk about climate-resilient technologies and practices in farming. A new vision is also necessary because the planet is going to see more and more climate disasters in the coming years.

In a nutshell, regenerative agriculture replenishes the soil and the environment instead of depleting or polluting them. This method of farming demands many steps from the farmer- from a careful selection of crops to methods such as no-till farming and an understanding of how biodiversity and water conservation work for the benefit of the farmer. The farmer will have to adopt carbon sequestration methods and desist from traditional practices such as crop residue burning. Similarly, a shift from traditional irrigation using ridges and furrows will have to be replaced by drip irrigation to economise water use.

The benefits of regenerative agriculture include:

Reducing carbon emissions
Enhancing soil health
Water conservation
Better productivity
Sustainability

No-till Farming

No-tillage farms can survive even when there is low rainfall because less water evaporates from the untilled land. Tilling also causes carbon material in the soil to get exposed to the sun and to be lost as carbon dioxide. Another benefit is that no-tillage keeps the soil dynamics and organic diversity intact, thereby allowing green manure's natural in situ decomposition. When the soil has natural biodiversity, the water that falls on it infiltrates it much more easily. The rich presence of organic matter on no-till soil quickens the nutrient cycles, making nutrients available in abundance and quickly. The thick organic layer that develops thus enhances root penetration.

Direct seeding into crop residue is a method that goes hand in hand with no-tillage farming. In this practice, the crop residue from the previous harvest is allowed to stand on the ground intact and decompose naturally. Once the decomposition is 70% or 80%, seeds for the next crop are directly placed in this residue without any tillage. This is a great cost-saving practice for the farmer.

In Kazakhstan, 10% of the total farmland has already been brought under the no-till farming method, resulting in an additional production of 0.7 million tons of wheat. This has become a successful model for the world, also by reducing the cost of cultivation for the farmers, increasing the moisture-retaining ability of the soil, and preventing soil erosion.

Adopting Climate-Resistant Crops

Crops such as Millet, Green Gram, Chickpea, Pigeon peas, Almonds, Sesame, Quinoa, and Pistachios are drought-tolerant. They also mature early, making them less prone to the vagaries of sudden climate variations. The major advantage of choosing this kind of crop is that they have a certain level of heat tolerance.

CBS News reported an example of a farmer, Joe Franklin, who shifted to growing citruses on his 78-acre farm in Georgia, whereas earlier, no one would have imagined that possible. Citruses used to grow only in southern states such as Florida, where it was warmer. Joe told CBS News that Georgian peaches, which used to be one of the traditional crops of Georgia, could not be grown there anymore because of climate warming.

Choosing to cultivate indigenous varieties of climate-resilient crops is another way to weather climate change. These varieties will be more adaptable against extreme climatic conditions as they will have a history of surviving the droughts, floods, and storms of the region.

Choosing crops that have a shorter yield cycle is another aspect of climate-resilient agriculture. This significantly reduces the period of exposure the crop has to heat and helps avert the long-term impact of heat hurting productivity. This also reduces the water requirement in agriculture.

Optimised Crop Calendar for Coping Climate Change

The farmer has to realise that the weather cycle is changing. Their particular region might be facing an early onset of rains or yearly extended drought periods due to climate change. So, holding on to past experiences and the crop calendars from the past will not be sufficient. The farmers should replenish themselves with the recent climate data of the region and make decisions calibrating the past datasets with the newer ones. Adjusting the planting dates based on the above facts takes the farmer a long way towards crop protection and higher yields.

Sustaining the Greens to Prevent Wild Fires

The importance of firebreaks and windbreakers has increased exponentially. The farmers have to think about building rock walls, fire-resistant fences, and roadway clearings along their farmland borders or having high moisture-low resin plants or flame-retardant plants on the borders. This will protect the crops from wildfires.

A row of trees on the border serves the purpose of windbreakers. The benefits include protecting the farm from storms, reducing soil erosion, adding more nutrients into the soil by way of falling leaves, and making the farm cooler.

The canopy of a row of trees also offers frost protection and reduces heat loss from the ground during the night.

An early example of planting border trees to protect the farmland could be seen in the planting of a 'green belt' forest ring around the town of And Kpomey in Togo. The project began in the 1970s and was formulated based on the advice of the elders of the community. Now, this forest ring is about 350 metres wide and protects the town from all sides when there is a forest fire. There are community-based action groups and committees in place to carry out maintenance of the tree ring, collect non-timber forest produce, sell them, distribute the income among the stakeholders, and so on.

Use of Green Manure

Site-specific green manure is an age-old and greatly money-saving agricultural practice. The previously discussed preservation of greens on the farm will provide the farmers with enough green manure, which they can directly apply to the soil or make compost of. While applying directly, care is to be taken not to let the green manure rot close to the plant body. Once decomposed, the manure can be moved to the base of the plant. This kind of site-specific nutrient management reduces the money spent on fertilisers bought from outside the farm.

Drip Irrigation to Preserve Water and Improve Yield

Drip irrigation allows the farmer to have precise and crop-specific irrigation and also reduces water use by three-fourths when compared to conventional flood irrigation. This irrigation method also reduces nutrient leaching.

Use of Nitrogen Fixing Crops

Legumes such as ground nuts, soybeans and cowpeas are known to fix nitrogen to the soil as their roots have this ability. This natural enrichment of the soil with nitrogen saves the farmer the cost of buying nitrogen fertiliser, and also, many of these legume plants serve as a green cover that prevents carbon and moisture loss to the atmosphere from the ground soil. Once these legumes are harvested, the rest of the plant can be tilled into the soil, thus adding the much-required green manure without any extra effort or money.

After a crop cycle of legumes, the farmers can return to their main crop, and this crop rotation ensures that the soil has plenty of diverse nutrients. Diversity in crops is a natural control method for pests and diseases as they differ from one crop to another. When the crop is changed, there is less chance that the same pests and diseases settle down on the same farmland for a long time.

Organic Farming to Combat Climate Change

Bio-fertilisers make the soil rich by bringing in microorganisms that help nutrient absorption. As we already know, the environmental impact of chemical fertilisers is huge and organic farming helps avert this. Leaching and volatilisation are two major drawbacks of the use of chemical fertilisers.

Split fertilisation is another recommended method in organic farming. In this method, the plant is fed in regular and short intervals with smaller doses of fertiliser application. This reduces the threat of soil volatilisation, which causes a freeze in nutrient absorption. The plant will find it easier to absorb nutrients if supplied in lower doses with more frequency than when fertiliser is dumped in huge quantities at its base.

Biological Pest and Disease Control

Introducing natural predators to the ecosystem and using organic pesticides has a less negative impact on the environment and is good for food safety. As mentioned earlier, crop rotation is another step in controlling pests and diseases. Neem oil is a super pest-repellent that can be used in diluted form and combinations. Mixing neem cake with the soil is the best way to prevent many root fungi infections and other diseases.

Chemical pesticides kill all beneficial insects and microorganisms. By replacing the notion of pest killing with pest repelling, the farmer can develop a biodiversity-based approach to farm management. The impact of chemical pesticides on human health also has to be factored in while deciding what pest and disease control methods to adopt.

Pheromone traps are a great way to trap and kill pests without harming the environment. Early identification of a pest or disease problem can go a long way in cutting down future and massive damage control measures. Planting pest-repellent crops such as marigold and lemon grass intermittently inside the field is also an effective measure to control them.

When the small holdings of coffee farmers in Peru faced the attack of a new pest, coffee leaf rust, caused by climate change, Oikocredit, a worldwide cooperative and social investor, helped them carry out the reforestation of their coffee growing farms, thus giving them access to carbon credit. Farmers will need credit support when the climate plays havoc with their crops, and similar initiatives can help them brace for the impact in a better way.

More Climate-Resilient Practices

Greenhouses
Using renewable energy
Using information technology to assist precision farming
Using mobile apps for selling and buying
Sharing information among farmers through information and communication technologies

Agroforestry and Climate Change

Agroforestry is another highly recommended strategy for a farmer coping with climate change. As more trees mean more carbon sequestration, the soil is regenerated, and there are fewer greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere in such a scenario.

When there are more trees on farmland, soil erosion will be less. The fallen leaves act as a good mulch and a moisture-retainer. The tree cover reduces evaporation from the soil. The trees of an agroforestry system provide timber, animal fodder (when fodder trees are grown), mulch material, and firewood to the farmer.

Mulching

Mulching helps the soil retain water and prevents evaporation. The mulch gradually recycles itself into green manure. By preventing light from falling directly on the ground, the mulch reduces carbon loss to the atmosphere. There is also the advantage of preventing weed growth. Beneath the mulch develops a minuscule ecosystem of beneficial microorganisms that help the roots feed nutrients from the soil.

Mulching also is a method of soil temperature control. This cover keeps the soil cool during hot daytime and keeps it warm on freezing nights. As the soil retains sufficient moisture under the mulch, the frequency of irrigation can be reduced.

Having More Biodiversity on the Farm

Retaining grass strips and weed strips in between the raised beds of the crops and also lining the border of the farmland with grass has many benefits. On slopes, these strips prevent soil erosion. Grass also slows down surface water runoff and helps the water infiltrate into the soil. This is a great water conservation method. The weeds, when wilted, add nutrients to the soil and ensure nutrient diversity.

The Way Forward for a Farmer to Cope With Climate Change

In a world facing climate change impact on a day-to-day basis, farmers are going to be the worst affected yet most crucial agents of food safety for the entire human race. It is high time that global leaders start a concerted effort to re-train and support them so that the world does not have to witness climate-induced famines and food shortages.