“We Don’t Know what Normal is Anymore.”
June 14, 2014
Now, we are at another critical moment for agriculture. Climate change is bringing more frequent and severe weather challenges, unlike any that farmers have seen before, and already farmers are feeling the effects. Countless scientists agree that climate change will affect every part of our food system—from crop yields to food processing and distribution. More dry days and hot nights will stress already limited water resources. Ironically, when it does rain, it will pour, exacerbating soil erosion. Farmers will need to confront new challenges from weeds, diseases and pests. But farmers don’t need a scientist to tell them times are tough. They can just look out their windows.
We know what needs to be done. We learned after the Dust Bowl that farmers have one of the best “insurance policies” right beneath their boots—their very own soil. Healthy soil is more resilient to extreme weather events like droughts and floods because it can filter and hold more water. The new “normal” of climate change calls for us to redouble our efforts to build healthy soil. NRDC’s “Soil Matters” report describes how we can build farms that are more resilient to climate change by encouraging low risk, water-smart practices that regenerate soil. Under NRDC’s proposal, farmers who adopt proven techniques, like cover cropping, to reduce their risk of crop loss would receive a discount on their crop insurance policies. This could be done under existing law, and could have widespread benefits for farmers, taxpayers, and the environment.
But the longer we wait, the harder the job will be. Scientists agree that the increased concentration of heat-trapping carbon pollution in our atmosphere is the key reason that our climate is changing, and power plants are responsible for nearly half of that pollution. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has proposed the first carbon pollution limits for future power plants, and is on track to propose limits for existing power plants by early June. These new protections will help reduce the carbon pollution that is threatening American agriculture and our food security.
After the Dust Bowl, American farmers didn’t throw up their hands in despair. They got to work, planting windbreaks, building terraces and making conservation a way of life. Now it’s our turn. Climate change is a tough challenge, but we know what we need to do. We need to regenerate our landscapes to build resilient farms, and we need protections from the power plant carbon pollution that’s threating our food supply. It’s time to act. The next five generations of farmers depend on it.
Climate Denial Crock of the Week 
June 14, 2014 at 8:36 am
We were set on the path to this “critical moment for agriculture” when the first man stopped wandering and gathering seeds and got the idea to plant them in monocultures in nice neat rows next to his abode. It has gone downhill from there.
That allowed the rise of “civilization” and the tremendous growth in human populations once the technologies of modern agriculture and medicine took hold. Throw on top of that the more recent trends of capitalism, free markets, globalization, and unadulterated greed and you arrive at the present day.
We are using up the soil and fossil water, changing the climate to the extent that natural rainfall is unreliable and destructive, poisoning the biosphere with the “wonders of modern chemistry”, and in general doing so many unsustainable things that it will be a miracle if we can ever undo them.
“The next five generations of farmers depend on it”? Actually, the future of all mankind depends on our moving soon.
June 14, 2014 at 11:08 pm
LOL…..We were set on the path to this “critical moment for agriculture” when the first WOMEN stopped wandering and gathering seeds and got the idea to plant them in monocultures in nice neat rows next to HER abode.
June 15, 2014 at 6:44 am
You are, of course, correct. And before the dawn of “civilization”, it was the women who did the actual “gathering” and the men who did the literal, figurative, and metaphorical “wandering”. Were it not for women, the human race would have gone extinct long ago—-too bad they’re not in charge today.
June 14, 2014 at 1:07 pm
The NRDC’s position on building soil runs counter to the NRDC’s position on biofuels. The same organic matter can’t be making ethanol and adding to soil carbon at the same time.
If the NRDC was serious about the issue, it would insist that we build more carbon-free base-load electric generation. Sadly, it’s not.
June 14, 2014 at 2:42 pm
Actually, you are misstating or misinterpreting the NRDC’s position on biofuels. They do NOT see ethanol as a long term solution because it competes too much with food production. IMO, they are leaning towards the burning of biomass in place of fossil fuels and doing carbon capture and sequestration via biochar and other means. Not burning fossil fuels and merely recycling (and even removing) the carbon and CO2 that is already on the planet’s surface and in the atmosphere seems like a good plan to me.
Re: nuclear power (it’s OK to say actually it, because it will be something we will see a lot more mention of when the SHTF), the NRDC merely totals up the pluses and minuses and says no to it. Right now, that is—-when the SHTF and we go on a wartime-like mobilization plan to reduce CO2 levels, the NRDC will be changing its tune. I have been a member almost since its founding, and if the conditions demand it, NRDC will modify its stance on “building more carbon-free base-load electric generation”.
June 14, 2014 at 3:37 pm
Conditions demanded it 20 years ago, when we were not yet committed to the loss of the WAIS. NRDC is still waffling.
June 14, 2014 at 3:52 pm
EVERYONE is waffling, the environmental groups less than most. And on many topics. The WAIS was being talked about, but the reality of what has happened there was a bit of a surprise and is far far away for most people.
I am more interested in goings-on in the northern hemisphere, and I think that the loss of the arctic sea ice, a massive melt of the GIS, massive releases of methane from thawing permafrost and sea bed clathrates, a massive heat discharge to the atmosphere from a Super El Nino, and increasingly extreme weather will be the antidote to the waffling. The next couple of years are going to be quite a ride!
June 14, 2014 at 5:11 pm
A highlight of yet another big threat looming:
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2014/jun/11/cliamte-threat-america-corn-crop
June 15, 2014 at 10:26 am
I wish statements weren’t so ridiculous from the get-go.
“Climate change IS bringING more frequent and severe weather challenges” but then “climate change WILL affect every part of our food system” (iow it is not affecting them right now…in fact, it isn’t and no serious scientist expects that to happen for another 2 or 3 decades).
Climate change’s impacts to agriculture are in the future.
“AFTER the Dust Bowl, American farmers didn’t throw up their hands in despair”, iow, not BEFORE. So the comparison is meaningless.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy.
June 15, 2014 at 10:53 am
Oh boy oh boy oh boy. Omno is in a fine state of confusion and denial this AM.
“Climate change’s impacts to agriculture are in the future”?.
“….it is not affecting (the food system) right now”?
“…no serious scientist expects that to happen for another 2 or 3 decades”?
I wish Omno’s statements weren’t so ridiculous from the get-go, but then he is only seeking attention rather than trying to contribute to the discussion, and ridiculous DOES get attention. He will garner his usual near-record number of thumbs down for this inane comment, I’m sure.
How about a citation to those “serious scientists” who see NO impact for 2 or 3 decades, Omno? (and don’t mention the Idso’s, charlatan “scientists” who maintain CO2 is good for us and the planet). I suspect Omno plucked that thought from his anal orifice, the source of so much of his wisdom.
June 15, 2014 at 11:08 am
SREX. More than two scientists.
You’re really funny in writing millions of words in answers to my comments to say nobody should pay attention to me. go start yourself.
June 15, 2014 at 12:00 pm
“More than two scientists”? You made a bald assertion and I asked for a citation, and that’s your only answer? Name some names and tell us what they said or go away, Omno—-you waste our time. WHO are these scientists that don’t see any AGW impact for 2 or 3 decades, and what exactly did they say?.
Did you even view the video clip or read this piece? It said “…..already farmers are feeling the effects. Countless scientists agree that climate change will affect every part of our food system—from crop yields to food processing and distribution”. Is that all made up?
Here in the US we are bombarded with clips from around the country of empty reservoirs, dry and cracked fields, and stunted crops (or floods that wash it all away). Kind of like the storms and floods in the UK last winter. Come out of your mother’s basement and look around. It’s happening, and your denial won’t stop it.
June 15, 2014 at 12:15 pm
obviously your newsmedia is made of truthful people. I congratulate you and recommend to keep watching those climate war bulletins.
June 15, 2014 at 12:25 pm
Answer the question or go away, Omno. Name names, or I have nothing more to say to you.
June 15, 2014 at 5:20 pm
Deo gratias!
June 15, 2014 at 5:44 pm
So now we’ve stopped speaking English? OK—Che coglione! and Vaffanculo!
Stop evading and invoking god and answer the question.
June 15, 2014 at 6:53 pm
eheheheh…I told you already. And your ignorance is boundless. Enough of you.
June 15, 2014 at 5:44 pm
Climate change’s impacts to agriculture are in the future? Am I mistaken or is there a major drought in Texas and California? How about Syria? How about those floods? That would have a major impact on agriculture. And this is the tip of the iceberg.
June 15, 2014 at 7:01 pm
John – I don’t think anybody can attribute a specific event to climate change ((c) Obama on Sandy, IIRC). Please let me know if things have changed of late.
In the meanwhile, the NDRC choice of tenses is telling. I can also tell you it’s quite a pity, as the perfectly sane idea of getting farms more resilient to future possible events gets drowned by incredibly empty alarmism about the present.
June 16, 2014 at 7:30 am
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