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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Livingontheland] Idaho Agriculture Faces Changes with Global Warming
  • Date: Thu, 29 Nov 2007 18:46:22 -0700


From: Educational Communications [mailto:edcomm@uidaho.edu]
Sent: Friday, November 16, 2007 1:48 PM
Subject: U-IDAHO NEWS: Idaho Agriculture Faces Changes with Global Warming
November 16, 2007
Contact: Juliet Windes at (208) 529-8376 or jwindes@uidaho.edu in Idaho
Falls or writer Marlene Fritz at (208) 364-6165 in Boise.

Idaho Agriculture Faces Changes with Global Warming

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho--With temperatures rising and greenhouse gases building,
a University of Idaho agronomist says global warming will bring changes to
Idaho agriculture--some that are much easier to project than others.

Crops that prefer a little more heat will be planted in regions of the
state
that had previously chilled them out, thereby expanding growers' rotational
choices and economic opportunities, said Juliet Windes, Extension cereal
cropping systems agronomist in Idaho Falls.

Although Windes said "it's difficult to predict the totality of the
effects," she is concerned about potentially hotter growing seasons and
increased pest pressure and about reduced winter snowfall leading to
decreased storage water.

"Idaho industry is starting to look at the potential economic and
industrial
impacts of global warming," said Windes. "I think we need to be
prepared--especially in our water priorities."

She anticipates that producers will see these changes as a result of global
warming:

* Crops that need higher temperatures--like beans and corn--will be
planted farther east and north, in historically cooler areas where
potatoes,
hay and grain have traditionally been grown.
* Crops that prefer cooler temperatures will be planted and harvested
earlier; to avoid hot days and dry months, some acreage of winter wheat,
planted in fall, may supplant spring wheat, planted in late spring.
* Higher average night-time low temperatures will reduce the overall
quality of potatoes and the sugar content of sugar beets; higher average
day-time temperatures will shorten the time that grain seedheads can fill,
compromising yields.
* In southern and eastern Idaho, growers will be able to produce a
broader variety of fruits and vegetables--as long as irrigation is
available.
* Higher temperatures will heat up--and dry out--soils earlier in the
growing season and boost the demand for irrigation and livestock water. On
the flip side, irrigation demand will decline with the crops' earlier
harvest.
* Wetter winters will favor winter wheat and barley production, and
shorter periods of snow cover will discourage dwarf bunt and snow mold
diseases.
* Aphids and other insect pests will be more likely to survive winters
and will reproduce earlier and faster, enhancing their ability to carry and
spread crop diseases.
* Most crop-damaging nematodes will produce more generations in warmer
soils. The potato cyst nematode, which prefers cooler climates, may be an
exception.
* Weeds will thrive and become increasingly competitive with crops.
* Crop diseases discouraged by cold winters--like late blight in
potato--will increase in range and severity. Fungal diseases that can
spread
to small grains may flourish in new acres of heat-loving corn.
* With weeds, insects and disease-causing agents producing more
generations during the growing season, the chances of resistance developing
to pesticides increase. That shortens the shelf life of currently effective
chemical controls.
* Until plant geneticists can breed pest-resistant varieties,
producers will increase their use of pesticides that still work.

According to Windes, agricultural scientists and producers will also need
to
be "one step ahead" of insect and disease pests by understanding the
problems occurring in climate zones warmer than theirs and by managing
pests
in ways that reduce the development of pesticide resistance.

"Our ability to breed crops with increased environmental adaptation and
resistance to pests is the single best strategy for a healthy agricultural
economy," Windes said. Without science-based measures to adapt, "huge
losses" to pests could result. With them, "we may be able to negate the
more
harmful agricultural effects of global warming and to maintain and improve
crop yield and diversity."

Learn more about Windes' work online at
http://www.ag.uidaho.edu/scseidaho/.






  • [Livingontheland] Idaho Agriculture Faces Changes with Global Warming, TradingPostPaul, 11/29/2007

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