Agricultural Renaissance: A Californian Perspective
Posted on : July 3, 2009
Author : A G Kawamura
The pressing new revelations of climate change complicate an already challenging outlook for global agriculture. Even without climate change, the demographics show that we will need to double agricultural output by 2050 to meet the demands of a growing population that will want more choices in their diet. This is no small task.
Do we leave an entirely solvable problem, world hunger, to pursue a new and serious threat to humanity? Can the ethic of food security for all humans be linked to the common cause of addressing global climate change?
The significant and complex threats that confront all dimensions of agriculture must be revealed and understood in the context of a Copenhagen outcome, if we are to respond to the impacts and the need for adaptation and innovation.
The simple truth that has caught the attention of agriculturists around the planet is that unpredictable weather means unpredictable harvest, and that climate change does not discriminate between countries or farmers…it is a stark and sobering reality.
In the developed world, the luxury of abundance gives us the privilege to choose how our food supply might be produced, while a majority of the earth’s human population would just like something on the plate.
The establishment of phytosanitary protocols and a continuing devotion to applied science extension to farmers has been the backbone of our American agricultural system. Water development, transportation, post harvest storage and processing become the other pillars of a stable platform for production. And yet, there is an insidious decay in the support for these critical components, an undermining of principles across many nations.
Adaptation is mankind's middle name. So many of the "arable" regions of California are in places that previously were considered inhospitable! The lesson here is that we need to truly understand the potentiality of where food and fiber can be produced and the infrastructural foundation that needs to be in place for it to progress.
In the 21st century, it will mean protecting prime farm lands; looking to the oceans for additional water and minerals; enabling biomass and other renewables for energy; landscaping an edible urban forest of cities; pursuing home permaculture greenhouse and backyard production sites. We will see local food and energy sheds develop in response to regional security goals and demands. Agriculture will be big and small, technical and simple…it will need to be dynamic.
In California, decisive leaders began to build an amazing water infrastructure over 100 years ago that anticipated and envisioned significant population and agricultural growth. Now with the threat of climate change we find that we will need to adapt this remarkable system. The procrastination and failure to build upon and maintain this critical infrastructure has left us vulnerable to system collapse.
The good news is that there exists quite an effective toolbox of technologies and proven actions that can be adopted, funded and built. The bad news is that their agricultural output is down by some estimates as much as 50%. The real challenge now is mitigation in the face of catastrophic impacts.
The Dutch have taken preventative adaptation to climatic pressures to the highest level anywhere on the planet. Centuries of hard learned lessons have taught them that the best way to protect against periodic but fully predictable floods was to build a better system of levees and sea walls. For a country whose land mass is 60% below sea level, their national commitment to self-preservation serves as a remarkable lesson.
We can "survive" global warming, but is simply surviving our goal? How can it be that California is the 5th largest agricultural economy in the world? Or that the Netherlands is not under water? In part, it is because of the blessings of resources, the borrowing and creation of new science and technologies, and in part, it is because of the ingenuity, vision and leadership of those who could see a different reality for their countries.
I believe that by converging our incredible human resources towards a vision of a sustainable living world, we can build a wellness strategy that embraces as one of several pillars, an agricultural renaissance that will teach us to thrive.
Do we leave an entirely solvable problem, world hunger, to pursue a new and serious threat to humanity? Can the ethic of food security for all humans be linked to the common cause of addressing global climate change?
The significant and complex threats that confront all dimensions of agriculture must be revealed and understood in the context of a Copenhagen outcome, if we are to respond to the impacts and the need for adaptation and innovation.
The simple truth that has caught the attention of agriculturists around the planet is that unpredictable weather means unpredictable harvest, and that climate change does not discriminate between countries or farmers…it is a stark and sobering reality.
In the developed world, the luxury of abundance gives us the privilege to choose how our food supply might be produced, while a majority of the earth’s human population would just like something on the plate.
The establishment of phytosanitary protocols and a continuing devotion to applied science extension to farmers has been the backbone of our American agricultural system. Water development, transportation, post harvest storage and processing become the other pillars of a stable platform for production. And yet, there is an insidious decay in the support for these critical components, an undermining of principles across many nations.
Adaptation is mankind's middle name. So many of the "arable" regions of California are in places that previously were considered inhospitable! The lesson here is that we need to truly understand the potentiality of where food and fiber can be produced and the infrastructural foundation that needs to be in place for it to progress.
In the 21st century, it will mean protecting prime farm lands; looking to the oceans for additional water and minerals; enabling biomass and other renewables for energy; landscaping an edible urban forest of cities; pursuing home permaculture greenhouse and backyard production sites. We will see local food and energy sheds develop in response to regional security goals and demands. Agriculture will be big and small, technical and simple…it will need to be dynamic.
In California, decisive leaders began to build an amazing water infrastructure over 100 years ago that anticipated and envisioned significant population and agricultural growth. Now with the threat of climate change we find that we will need to adapt this remarkable system. The procrastination and failure to build upon and maintain this critical infrastructure has left us vulnerable to system collapse.
The good news is that there exists quite an effective toolbox of technologies and proven actions that can be adopted, funded and built. The bad news is that their agricultural output is down by some estimates as much as 50%. The real challenge now is mitigation in the face of catastrophic impacts.
The Dutch have taken preventative adaptation to climatic pressures to the highest level anywhere on the planet. Centuries of hard learned lessons have taught them that the best way to protect against periodic but fully predictable floods was to build a better system of levees and sea walls. For a country whose land mass is 60% below sea level, their national commitment to self-preservation serves as a remarkable lesson.
We can "survive" global warming, but is simply surviving our goal? How can it be that California is the 5th largest agricultural economy in the world? Or that the Netherlands is not under water? In part, it is because of the blessings of resources, the borrowing and creation of new science and technologies, and in part, it is because of the ingenuity, vision and leadership of those who could see a different reality for their countries.
I believe that by converging our incredible human resources towards a vision of a sustainable living world, we can build a wellness strategy that embraces as one of several pillars, an agricultural renaissance that will teach us to thrive.
0 Comment(s) | 604 hit(s)
