Author
 |
Hatfield, Jerry |
|
Submitted to: Meeting Abstract
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/2008 Publication Date: 6/13/2008 Citation: Hatfield, J.L. 2008. Climate and Agriculture: Challenges for Efficient Production [CD-ROM]. In: Symposium of the Climate Information for Managing Risks, Jule 10-13, 2008, St. Pete Beach, FL. Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Climate has always been and will continue to be an important factor in agricultural production. Evidence of this is apparent when looking at where plants or animals are distributed around the world and the variation among years in terms of grain, forage, vegetable, and fruit production. The recent release of the plant hardiness map that shows the northward movement of the areas where plants can grow in the more moderate environments is an indicator that demonstrates how changes in climate affect what grows and where they grow. In agriculture, the combinations of temperature, precipitation, sunlight, and carbon dioxide form the basis for plant growth and indirectly for animals because of the forage or feed they consume from plant materials. Efficient production of agricultural commodities will require that we utilize the information available on the interactions of climate and agriculture combined with the scenarios of climate variability. The direct and indirect impacts of climate on agriculture will have large impacts on agricultural production unless we are prepared to respond to these changes and provide information that will reduce the risk of climate variation on agricultural production. These interactions are complex because of the seasonal patterns of plant growth and the natural temporal variation in temperature, precipitation, and sunlight and further complicated by the variation that occurs around these seasonal patterns. |
