Page 46 October 27, 2015
2015 Logan County Farm Outlook Magazine
LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.COM
are still being studied.” He says, “The influence
of human activity has played a role. However,
it is important to remember that our atmosphere
is highly complex, so other factors need to be
analyzed.”
According to a Scientific American article “U.S.
Farmers View Climate Change as Just Another
Weather Challenge,” farmers have become
accustomed to bad weather that includes both
drought and torrential rains, and many “don’t
think humanity is to blame for the long-term
shifts in weather patterns known as climate
change.” They are likely to view climate change
as something that has always occurred as a part of
natural weather patterns
No matter what the cause is, the general consensus
among many scientific societies is that the planet
has become warmer in the past century.
Miller says, “Data from the past century points
to significant warming at the high latitudes of
the Arctic, North America, Asia and Europe.
However, we have seen very little warming
in the Midwestern and Southern U.S. over the
past century,” though he does note that “in the
Midwest we have experienced slightly warmer
temperatures from late Winter through the Spring
during the past 100 years.” Miller says that when
we just analyze a century of data, “there are a lot
of assumptions being made.”
For people who believe humans influence
climate change, agriculture is seen as one cause
of the increase in greenhouse gases with “CO2
emissions linked to deforestation in temperate
regions: where forests and woodlands are cleared
to make room for fields and pastures, . . [m]ethane
emissions from rice cultivations and enteric
fermentation in cattle. . . and [n]itrous oxide
emissions from fertilizer applications” according
to the Climate Institute.
According to Monsanto, agriculture is one of
the first areas to be affected by changes in our
environment. Rising temperatures, extreme
weather, and drought are just a few of the issues
agriculture must deal with in order to feed
mankind. The company asserts, “Some effects
of agriculture—such as the greenhouse gases
produced by farm machinery and the production
of fertilizer—are contributing factors. And of
course, agriculture itself can suffer from the
effects of climate change.” Other thoughts are
that “Agriculture needs to adapt to changing
conditions and use farming techniques that reduce
the impact of our changing climate.”
Studies by the University of Illinois College
of Agriculture, Consumer, and Environmental
Sciences indicate that climate change may
adversely affect farming, such as a fungus that
causes charcoal rot. ACES Molecular biologist
Osman Radwan postulates, “As the climate
continues to change and we see more extremes in
Continued
