Giving Compass' Take:

• Thomas Schueneman shares some ways that the agriculture industry can mitigate climate change issues regarding farming. 

• How can donors support the agricultural sector? What are the ways that your giving relates to helping address the effects of climate change?

• Understand more about what climate change will mean for crops.

Our success as a species boils down to the ground beneath our feet. Without just a few inches of healthy, nutrient-rich topsoil, global agricultural would fail. People would starve. Successful agriculture depends on healthy soil. It’s a hard lesson when we forget.

  1. No-till climate mitigation: The soil is a key element of the planet’s natural carbon cycle. The more we disrupt the soil, the more we interrupt that cycle.
  2. Nitrogen fixing: Take nitrogen, add heat, high pressure and hydrogen, and you’ve got fertilizer. You’ve also jump-started nature’s nitrogen cycle.
  3. Green manure: Replenish the soil, reduce erosion and help defend against pests. Cover crops also improve water quality and help reduce nitrogen runoff.
  4. Microbial inoculants: Unseen microbes within soil and plant roots play a significant role in soil, plant, and ecosystem health.
  5. Big data: A typical plot of farmland is “very heterogeneous in every property” Seale explains. “The soil can vary across just a few meters of the farm. We’re able to take in that data at that level and we can write a prescription.”

We must be climate smart moving forward. Clearly, there is no going back.

Read the full article on agricultural evolution by Thomas Schueneman at TriplePundit.