Dr. Crimmins raised several alarming question during his talk on climate change in Arizona and the Southwestern part of the United States. The most prominent question was how will climate change impact agricultural practices? With the annual average temperature rising, and the type of precipitation changing, Earth is facing a climate change. Ultimately, Dr. Crimmins brought up the question will we be able to adjust our agricultural practices to compensate for climate change?
Dr. Crimmins addressed this question by discussing the evidence for climate change. The annual average temperature has been steadily rising. 2014 was the warmest year on record, which isn’t surprising considering eleven out of fifteen recorded years have been considered “warm” years. This isn’t surprising once you take a look at the precipitation levels over the past fifteen years. Thirteen of the fourteen years recorded have been considered “dry” years. The type of precipitation we have is also changing: instead of having a supply of snow ready to thaw in the spring, we are getting more rain than snow, and we don’t have enough storage for all of the excess water. With the climate changing, we need to assess how we will continue to increase crop yields even with rising temperatures. The major problem here is how we will irrigate crops. Those that are reliant on rainfed crops will have to modify their irrigation practices in order to sustain crop yields. There will also have to be modified water storage. We rely on most of our precipitation to come in snowpack. This snow will remain frozen through the winter, allowing us to use some of our water supply, so when it melts there is space in the reservoir. Currently, reservoirs are overflowing with all the excess rainwater that was expected to be snowpack. If we combine the efforts to modify our irrigation and storage efforts, we can use and store our water more resourcefully. By adjusting our water use, we can both increase our crop yields despite a drought, and not wasting our water supply …show more content…
Crimmins’ talk was how are we going to combat this constant heat wave. We are having more heat waves than cold snaps, which means it is becoming harder and harder to grow crops. We must figure out a way to come away from rainfed crops if our annual precipitation is going to continue to shrink inch by inch. We will have to morph to using more of our reservoir water, that way there is room when rain comes. In my opinion, we would need to start flooding more fields, to use excess water. If it appears as though reservoirs are going to overflow, we should put that overflow to good use instead of wasting it. We can put it to good use by flooding fields. This will keep the soil saturated for a good time, while allowing us to have room in the reservoirs. I also think it is important to ration water. If we overwater crops that need very little water, we are only worsening the problem. It is important to determine how much water is needed to continue producing higher crop yields, compensate for the drought, and keeping the reservoirs in check. A lot of thought and work is going to have to go into modifying our irrigation practices to make sure we are using the right amount of water to keep plants growing during a drought, and to keep our reservoirs full but not overflowing and wasting
Dr. Crimmins addressed this question by discussing the evidence for climate change. The annual average temperature has been steadily rising. 2014 was the warmest year on record, which isn’t surprising considering eleven out of fifteen recorded years have been considered “warm” years. This isn’t surprising once you take a look at the precipitation levels over the past fifteen years. Thirteen of the fourteen years recorded have been considered “dry” years. The type of precipitation we have is also changing: instead of having a supply of snow ready to thaw in the spring, we are getting more rain than snow, and we don’t have enough storage for all of the excess water. With the climate changing, we need to assess how we will continue to increase crop yields even with rising temperatures. The major problem here is how we will irrigate crops. Those that are reliant on rainfed crops will have to modify their irrigation practices in order to sustain crop yields. There will also have to be modified water storage. We rely on most of our precipitation to come in snowpack. This snow will remain frozen through the winter, allowing us to use some of our water supply, so when it melts there is space in the reservoir. Currently, reservoirs are overflowing with all the excess rainwater that was expected to be snowpack. If we combine the efforts to modify our irrigation and storage efforts, we can use and store our water more resourcefully. By adjusting our water use, we can both increase our crop yields despite a drought, and not wasting our water supply …show more content…
Crimmins’ talk was how are we going to combat this constant heat wave. We are having more heat waves than cold snaps, which means it is becoming harder and harder to grow crops. We must figure out a way to come away from rainfed crops if our annual precipitation is going to continue to shrink inch by inch. We will have to morph to using more of our reservoir water, that way there is room when rain comes. In my opinion, we would need to start flooding more fields, to use excess water. If it appears as though reservoirs are going to overflow, we should put that overflow to good use instead of wasting it. We can put it to good use by flooding fields. This will keep the soil saturated for a good time, while allowing us to have room in the reservoirs. I also think it is important to ration water. If we overwater crops that need very little water, we are only worsening the problem. It is important to determine how much water is needed to continue producing higher crop yields, compensate for the drought, and keeping the reservoirs in check. A lot of thought and work is going to have to go into modifying our irrigation practices to make sure we are using the right amount of water to keep plants growing during a drought, and to keep our reservoirs full but not overflowing and wasting