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Effects of global warming on agriculture
>> Wednesday, October 13, 2010
Effects of Global warming
One of the major causes of global warming is an increase in CO2. Some scientists think this will help plants.One of the things that will help plants is the weather will be warmer, making a longer growing season. If the plants have a longer growing season they will produce more fruit. Another thing is that more precipitation is anticipated. The United States Environmental Protection Agency ( U.S.E.P.A ) predicts a 7% increase in precipitation by the year 2060 and a 5 degree increase in the temperature. If there is an increase in precipitation, the plants will have plenty of water. Plus, plants breathe CO2 like we breathe oxygen. If there is warmer weather, an increase in precipitation, and lots of CO2, the plants will grow better instead of dying during global warming, right?
Some scientists don't think it will help plants. If the temperature increases, and the precipitation increases then the rain will evaporate faster because of the heat. We would need an increase of more than 7% just to have the same amount of water available for use as we do today. There will also be a dramatic change in weather compared to the weather of today. There will be periods of drought followed by periods of dramatic storms. A drought might occur when the plants have just sprouted up from the ground. They won't be able to survive the drought. The same thing will happen with storms. What if some wheat just got some nice full heads and a storm occurs? The storm will break the heads off and ruin the wheat. Another problem with drought and storms is that right after a drought the plants would be very weak. So when the storms come they will wash the plants away. Along with the storms there will be floods. The floods will wash the topsoil off of the fields into nearby creeks and rivers. The farmers won't have any topsoil to grow their plants on and the state will have to spend a lot of money to dredge the topsoil from the creeks and rivers.
In the desert there are places called fringe lands. Fringe lands are strips of land that are like a desert when it is very hot, but can grow things when there is enough rain. When global warming occurs there will be no fringe lands, therefore making the deserts larger.
Another problem with an increase in CO2 is that certain plants need certain temperatures in order to grow. For example: Florida produces a large number of oranges, when global warming occurs, what will orange farmers do? Florida is near the equator, and is already very hot, so when global warming occurs it will be even hotter. The oranges won't be able to grow very well. The only way for the farmers to grow oranges is to move them further and further north. How will they do that? They can't sell all their land, equipment, and homes, then buy land north of Georgia, can they? No, because then those other states would become overpopulated. There would be too many cars, people, and CO2.
So, what is your opinion of global warming's effect on agriculture? Do you think it will help or hurt? Destroy or create? Again, some scientists think it will help, others think it will hurt. Overall, global warming will effect agriculture very much
