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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #298511
Title: Challenge for future agriculture

Author
item Hatfield, Jerry
item Prueger, John

Submitted to: Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change
Publication Type: Book / Chapter
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/10/2014
Publication Date: 8/1/2015
Citation: Hatfield, J.L., Prueger, J.H. 2015. Challenge for future agriculture. In: Redden, R., Yadav, S.S., Maxted, N., Dulloo, M.E., Guarino, L., Smith, P., editors. Crop Wild Relatives and Climate Change. Hoboken, NJ:Wiley-Blackwell. p. 24-43.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Future food security will be dependent upon a combination of the stresses imposed by climate change, variability of weather within the growing season, development of cultivars more suited to different conditions, and the ability to develop effective adaptation strategies which allow these cultivars to express their genetic potential under the changing climatic conditions. These may appear as challenges which may be impossible to address because of the uncertainty in our ability to predict future climates. However, these challenges provide us with the opportunity to enhance our understanding of soil-plant-atmosphere interactions and how we utilize this knowledge to help us achieve the goal of increased food security across all areas of the globe. In this chapter we explore the effects of changing climate on water and radiation use efficiency of plants and the interface of these parameters with temperature and carbon dioxide (CO2) impacts on plant growth, along with the implications for future management practices. Responding to these challenges will require that we develop a more intensive treatment of plant-environment interactions.