Climate and agriculture

After eating an orange, Leon’s left with some seeds. How about I plant these seeds and grow my own oranges? This might not work as well as Leon imagines because the conditions where he lives aren't great for orange trees. Different plants require different types of soil, different temperatures, and different amounts of sunlight and water. These factors often depend on the climate in a region.

Climate determines what plants thrive best where, and this knowledge is very important to farmers! Most farmers try to choose crops and livestock well suited to the climate where they farm. Regions close to the equator have a tropical climate. Tropical regions are warm year-round, and rain is plentiful. This allows farmers to grow crops that need a lot of water, like rice.

In tropical regions, you can grow crops all year round — the vegetation period never ends. Climate in the tropical and subtropical savannah is warm too, but here rain falls only during a certain period. This often makes it difficult for farmers to grow crops. But the savannah’s natural grasslands make it a perfect place to raise grazing cattle. The Mediterranean climate, with its warm, dry summers and mild rainy winters, is suitable for growing many crops, especially fruits and vegetables such as grapes, olives, tomatoes, and oranges.

Regions further from the equator normally have a colder climate. The vegetation period — or growing period — is much shorter here. But thanks to warm summers and plentiful rainfall, these temperate climate regions are great for growing cereals, apples, potatoes... If the natural conditions aren’t perfect, farmers might try to create more suitable growing conditions themselves. They might construct irrigation systems to supply enough water to plants, or build greenhouses to better control temperature and humidity.

As a result of human actions, today crops and livestock can be farmed in nearly every climate around the world! But to grow crops and raise animals, people sometimes make even bigger changes to the natural environment, which might have a negative effect on climate. For example, to make space for fields and pastures, people often cut down natural vegetation. This is called deforestation. Deforestation can change the weather patterns, because when land is not protected by forest, it heats up much faster.

This results in higher temperatures and stronger wind. Forests absorb a great amount of carbon dioxide, so deforestation can also cause the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere to increase. Machinery and fertilisers used in farming, as well as farm animals, are sources of greenhouse gas emissions too. Too much carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases cause temperatures on Earth to rise. Wait a moment!

It seems most farmed plants and animals like warmth! So what’s wrong with rising temperatures? Well, it’s true that higher temperatures in colder climates might lengthen the vegetation period. The problem is that crops adapted to colder temperatures mature too fast in warmer temperatures. There is not enough time for them to grow normally.

Rising temperatures also cause more water to evaporate, leading to water shortages. If temperatures rise too much in hot climates, it becomes too hot to grow anything. Climate change can also cause more extreme weather — such as terrible droughts, violent downpours, or very strong winds, which can destroy crops. Climate change is complex, and there are many reasons the climate is changing. What we know for sure is that climate and agriculture are closely linked.

In the long run, changing climate might make it more difficult to grow enough nutritious food.