Farmers Adapt to Climate Uncertainty

Tim Hammerich

News Reporter

Scientists have been warning for years about the impacts of climate change on agriculture, and many believe 2021 weather struggles are a sign of things to come. How will farmers adapt to unprecedented weather changes? California-based crop consultant John Silvera is not waiting to find out. He is working with farmers to ask questions about what crops should really be planted and where.

Silvera… “Commodity selection is going to be big for me going forward, trying to add input to the grower. So the cropping pattern is definitely going to change due to the heat and the water availability. That's going to be big. And then the input side is going to constantly change. So we're never going to do the same thing we did in years prior.”

Silvera says looking at historical data is helpful, but needs constant reviewing with rapidly changing climate conditions.

Silvera… “Ultimately, I think you're going to have to rebuild these budgets and tweak them every season. If a grower doesn't have the water availability then he can't have a crop to grow because mother nature only rains periodically here. And we can't rely on that, unfortunately we have to be irrigated agriculture.”

Resilience is a key focus for farmers facing an uncertain climate future.