Investigate Midwest (https://investigatemidwest.org/category/climate-change/)
A collection of original and curated stories, reports and resources on climate change and agribusiness
Increased drought, unsustainable irrigation and changing crop patterns are among the impacts that the agriculture sector will confront as the climate changes, according to a draft federal climate report obtained by The New York Times on Monday.
In South Dakota, one of the nation’s top wheat producing states, nearly 75 percent of the spring crop is in poor to very poor condition, according to the report. In North Dakota, the nation’s second largest wheat producer, 40 percent of the spring wheat crop is in poor to very poor condition.
The weather that led to the below-average conditions could be a preview of future climate conditions, according to a new study from the University of Illinois.
Almost 1,000 pivots have been installed in counties statewide in the past four years as a result of higher crop prices and the demand of seed corn companies, an almost 20 percent increase in overall irrigation that equals the use of more than half a million people each year.
“If I was going to invest in farm ground, if some of these climate scenarios come true, then having irrigation might be something that would pay off in the long-term,” Roadcap said.
Since the 2012 drought, the number of irrigation pivots in Champaign County has more than doubled. Brad Uken, the manager of the Champaign County Farm Bureau, said that one of the driving factors behind the recent growth in irrigation has been seed corn companies moving toward growers that have installed pivots to help reduce the risk of losing their crops in a drought.
The drought of 2012 was the worst since at least 1988, spanning the entire Corn Belt, from Ohio to Wyoming, and costing the agribusiness industry billions of dollars.
While Illinois is not currently facing a water crisis, highly populated areas with high growth – namely Chicagoland and Champaign County – are starting to see some levels of water conflict, and agricultural irrigation is playing a major role.
The State Water Survey projects that in the coming decades, Illinois will require 20 to 50 percent more water. But planning for the increase has been inadequate, largely due to a halt in planning because of the ongoing state budget crisis.
Last week, President Donald Trump announced the United States is withdrawing from the Paris climate accord, a global effort to reduce greenhouse emissions to limit global warming to an increase of two degrees Celsius. In December 2015, University of Illinois Crop Sciences Professor Stephen Long addressed the Paris Climate Change Conference to explain the impact of climate change and a growing population on agriculture across the globe. The Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting spoke with Dr. Long to discuss what the United States pulling out of the treaty means for agriculture across the Midwest and the globe.