Crops

Two USDA reports say U.S. agriculture and forest management will have to adapt to climate change and that some of those efforts are already underway. "It’s well documented that the climate is changing, that we are seeing changes in temperature and in changes in precipitation patterns, and that those changes are having implications for forests and for agriculture," says William Hohenstein, director of climate change program, USDA. "What these reports actually look at in more detail are the changes that we expect in changes in terms of extreme events. Changes in the probability of droughts, and floods and how that also will have implications for our resources."...More

Gail Fuller is a farmer by occupation; he also is equal parts philosopher and futurist. This Emporia, Kan., farmer quotes an ancient philosopher: “To be a successful farmer, one must first know the nature of the soil,” he says, quoting Xenophon of Athens, a Greek author who wrote those words nearly 2,500 years ago. From Fuller’s point of view, “knowing the soil” has slipped pretty far down the priority list in today’s agriculture. But it is job one at Fuller Farms....More