How does climate change threaten yield and fertility of our fields? What are the effects of the climate on agriculture? Let's discover it on this article.
Over recent years, climate change and global warming have become increasingly “hot” topics that are actually affecting many aspects of our life: whether you are at home or at work - energy saving and natural resources preservation practices have been implemented everywhere to help our planet.
Starting from the soil - how does climate change threaten yield and fertility of our fields? What are the effects of the climate on agriculture?
In agriculture, soil productivity strongly depends on weather conditions: droughts, excessive rainfalls, hailstorms and frost have always been a threat to crops. But what has changed over the last decades?
Unpredictable and unusual weather has an increasingly negative impact on different areas of the world. This is why meteorology and other sciences studying climate changes have become essential to provide farmers with accurate information on rainfalls and other precipitations, temperature variations and winds, so that they can prepare both land and crops to better withstand climate effects.
In addition to observing forecasts and climate models, there are a few things farmers can do to mitigate climate effects. The main idea is to recreate some of the natural ecosystem features such as biodiversity and wild plants adopting crop rotation and the use of organic fertilizers. Not only do these factors increase the strength and resistance of crops to withstand the changing climate, but they also provide benefits in terms of soil fertility, since they help to increase carbon levels and that of other nutrients.
Obviously, there’s no cure-all solution suitable for all crops or climatic zones. Nevertheless, today, we are going to talk about two natural methods you can adopt on your fields to fight climate change.
1. Bee colonies
Global bee population has been constantly decreasing in recent years, probably as a result of manifold reasons: excessive use of pesticides, pollution, bees’ natural habitat reduction, and last but not least, climate change.
However, bees play an important role for plant species reproduction. That’s why the main method to fight climate change is to foster the settlement of these natural pollinators near your fields.
How can you do this? If you grow plants and flowers, which attract bees, such as almonds, cherries, melons and tomatoes you create a virtuous circle. Bees, attracted by the flowers of these plants, settle in the fields and collect and carry the pollen from one flower to another, facilitating the crossing of plants, stimulating fruit bearing and yields. A contribution to solve some issues of climate change.
2. Evergreen plants enriching the soil
As you all know, plants are the main source of nutrition for the land. Or to put it differently, some kind of plants (usually wild ones) allow the soil to “rest”. This is like taking a break from intensive agriculture and regenerate autonomously, enriching again with nutrients.
The richer and stronger a soil, the better it withstands the negative effects of climate change. That’s the reason why we suggest you to introduce regenerating crops such as evergreen plants to your rotation cycle. These deep-rooted plants enrich the soil with natural and carbon-rich organic compost, improving soil productivity and groundwater quality.
If you need further suggestions on how to preserve and take care of your soil, take a look at our tips and stay tuned.