How climate change affects agricultural practices
With greater risk, farmers are suffering losses in productivity, insecurity in relation to planting planning and an increase in the cost of inputs
Climate change exerts a significant impact on agricultural practices, triggering a series of challenges for food production. Rising global temperatures alter weather patterns, resulting in more frequent extreme events such as droughts, floods, and storms. These adverse weather conditions jeopardize the stability and predictability needed for crop cultivation.
Even so, those who work in agriculture know that living with the elements is part of the business. The problem is the frequency with which extreme events have been occurring.
Mariana Caetano, CEO of Salva, a company specializing in environmental and climate data intelligence, emphasizes that climate change is leading farmers to adopt more sustainable and resilient agricultural practices.
“Producers are proving that low-carbon agriculture practices, such as no-till farming systems versus conventional tillage, use of plant cover versus straw, and the incorporation of organic matter into soils, can act as mitigating factors in the case of high temperatures.”
Another serious problem is the change in rainfall patterns. Climate change has a significant impact on the availability of water resources for agriculture, posing a growing threat to global food security. Irregular rainfall and high temperatures lead to increased water loss through evapotranspiration, and farmers need to protect or recover the vegetation of their water sources.
“Intelligent water resources management will become increasingly important. It is necessary to identify the most efficient irrigation systems for each crop. After all, with the plant cycle being altered by irregular rainfall, new pests and diseases begin to affect crops, increasing the demand for the use of agricultural pesticides,” adds the executive.
What is the solution?
Photo: Envato
In order to mitigate the impacts caused by extreme climate change, technology and data intelligence play a crucial role in adapting agricultural practices to global warming, offering farmers powerful tools to face growing challenges.
Caetano explains that agribusiness generates a lot of data, but it needs to be consolidated in order to effectively become a tool for decision-making.
“By using historical databases and extrapolating to climate change occurrences and scenarios using variables such as biome, microclimate, altitude, and soil profiles analyzed by artificial intelligence, it is possible to mitigate risks by evaluating the most appropriate genetics for each region, planting schedule, and the use of bioinputs to balance the production ecosystem,” she concludes.
By adopting these technological solutions, farmers can improve the resilience of their agricultural practices, maximizing production, minimizing environmental impacts, and contributing to the sustainability of the sector in the face of climate change.