Local Agriculture and Climate Change: A Symbiotic Relationship
Agriculture is at the nexus of the climate change discussion, both as an impacted industry and as a key player in implementing solutions. Reliant on natural resources and dependent upon the weather in ways that few other industries are, farmers have a vested interest in slowing and reversing climate change, and can also play a role in implementing those goals. But they need support to play that role fully.
The 2020 growing season in Massachusetts was one of the driest on record, leaving farmers to contend with the impacts of a drought on their crops along with the disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Just 12 months later, our state’s growers had to contend with a season of too much rain, particularly early in the season when young plants were most vulnerable. Flooded fields have meant significant crop loss here in Massachusetts, while on the other side of the country drought and fires are ravaging the region that produces much of the nation’s food. Climate change is threatening farm sustainability from all angles, and with it food security for all of us.
Where weather patterns were once consistent enough for farmers to rely on the calendar to know when they would be planting and harvesting, the variable patterns that have increased noticeably even in just the last decade have made that impossible. Hay growers have struggled to find long enough stretches of dry weather to cut and bale, orchardists have had to contend with surprise late frosts that killed off blossoms and thus prevented trees from fruiting and livestock farmers have had to add costly infrastructure to their operations, building shelters to protect even hardy animals from heat and rain.
Changes in temperature have brought to the region nonnative insect pests that have no natural local predators and therefore threaten many crops. Misalignment of flower blooms and pollinator activity due to earlier and inconsistent warm weather has put additional stress on the pollinators upon which farmers depend. Even one of the most quintessential New England crops, maple syrup, isn’t safe from the changing climate. Where sugarmakers used to be able to count on sap running in March, recent years have seen steam rising from sugar shacks as early as January and as late as May, with some seasons cut short due to heat waves in March, or deep freezes in April.
While contending with these challenges, farmers also hold an asset that is key to mitigating the impacts of climate change: farmland. Their careful stewardship of more than 500,000 acres in Massachusetts helps capture carbon and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. When farmers plant cover crops following their harvest they’re both increasing their land’s capacity to sequester carbon and building soil nutrients that will lead to increased crop yields in subsequent growing seasons. Cover crops also help reduce soil erosion and nutrient runoff. No- and low-till cultivation practices, where crops are planted with minimal disturbance to the soil, reduce the release of carbon dioxide that comes from tilling the soil. Rotational grazing of livestock also helps build soil fertility and reduces the need for carbon-intensive feeds.
Farmers also help reduce the use of carbon-based fuels by hosting and feeding anaerobic digesters that turn organic waste into electricity, and also limit their reliance on synthetic fertilizers by composting waste not only from their own farms but also from thousands of households, restaurants and other food service businesses around the Commonwealth. Many farmers hold land that is not suitable for farming, due to terrain or soil quality, but that can be used for solar development without taking active farmland out of production. And UMass and American Farmland Trust are conducting a study looking at the potential of dual-use solar, examining whether co-locating solar arrays with crops or livestock grazing can produce both food and electricity effectively.
But farmers can only play this crucial role in helping to mitigate climate change if they can remain financially sustainable, a major challenge in a state where land and other necessary inputs are more expensive than elsewhere in the nation. The state has stepped up, with programs that provide grants to farmers to support the costs of energy efficiency, clean energy adoption and projects that help reduce farms’ vulnerability to climate change, among other programs. These programs are consistently underfunded, however, with demand more than double available funds last year. Increased spending on these programs is essential to keeping Massachusetts farms in business, and supporting them in their role as climate change mitigators.
The critical educational and technical assistance services provided by UMass Extension are also woefully underfunded, at a time when farmers most need to be able to keep up with rapid changes in science and management practices. The need for better outreach and education around Integrated Pest Management (IPM), for example, a science-based sustainable way of addressing pest pressures on farms, is becoming more urgent, as farmers seek ways to reduce dependence on synthetic pesticides while at the same time struggling to keep pace with the climactic disruptions. As more farmers become reliant on controlled-climate growing in greenhouses and hoop houses to hedge against inconsistent weather patterns, they need education not just in how to grow crops in these facilities, but also in how to do so using renewable energy sources when heating is required.
The state passed landmark climate change legislation early this year, “An Act Creating a Next-Generation Roadmap for Massachusetts Climate Policy,” setting ambitious goals to reduce emissions and invest in clean sources of energy. Despite farmers’ unique struggles in the face of climate change, and despite their capacity to be an asset in the state’s goals to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture was not explicitly mentioned in the lengthy piece of legislation, nor were farmers at the table during the crafting of the law. Any discussions of climate change goals or solutions should engage farmers.
Consideration should also be given to paying farmers for environmental services. Sequestering carbon with proper management practices, building healthy soils and water filtration and retention are not only practices that benefit the farms, they benefit everyone as they help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. But they also involve additional investments on the part of the farmer, costs that the market isn’t yet willing to balance out with higher food prices, so public support to implement these practices is needed.
Consumers, too, can help ensure that farmers remain sustainable and are able to play this vital role in fighting climate change. Purchasing locally grown foods directly from the producers supports these farmers’ employment of environmentally sustainable management practices, means less energy-intensive processing and refrigeration as is needed for food transported over long distances and reduces the need for wasteful plastic packaging as is often found on grocery store aisles. Home composting or other diversion of food waste from landfills helps reduce greenhouse gas emissions and build soil fertility.
Farmers have the ultimate incentive to employ climate-smart practices: Their livelihoods and the very future of their industry depend on consistent, predictable weather patterns. Allowing climate change to progress as in recent years will only make farming in Massachusetts less financially viable. That’s why so many Massachusetts farms take the extra steps to manage their crops in ways that not only limit negative environmental impacts, but that enhance natural resources that reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions. Support from the state and from consumers will help them continue to play this vital role.
