Climate change and agriculture: introductory editorial

Abstract

There seems to be little doubt that the global climate is changing, partly due to natural factors, and in part due to forcing by human activities. However, there are still uncertainties about the extent to which human activity (including agricultural activity) has contributed to the current changes and could influence the future climate. Inevitably, climate and its variability, including the ongoing current changes at various spatial and temporal scales, must impact on agricultural activities. A major challenge for the agricultural industry worldwide is to feed the world population that has been projected to increase by 50% from 6 billion in 2000 to 9 billion in 2050. Most of the increase occurred in the less developed countries, where the current food production is often low. But, although the proportion of hungry people in the world is far below that of 1970, FAO's current estimate of the number of undernourished people in the world in 2008 was 915 million, the highest over the past 30-40 years (FAO 2009). History suggests that we can be optimistic about achieving appropriate increases in food production. Nevertheless, agriculture must adapt to a changing, and probably more variable, climate and simultaneously reduce emissions and other human impacts, which contribute to global warming. We need to develop and implement farming systems that produce more, from lower inputs, and that do not predjudice the future (i.e. are more sustainable) than the current systems. A key focus of much current research around the world is to predict future changes in climate and to suggest how these changes will curtail current agricultural systems at individual locations. Thus, the Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge has

Climate Change: Seed Production and Options for Adaptation

“…Can these seed yield increases continue given that climate change will have direct impacts on land, water, temperature, atmospheric CO 2, and weather patterns [7]? These changes must impact agricultural activities [8], although there is debate as to whether the impacts will be negative or positive. Some authors [9,10] concluded that the overall impact of climate change on agriculture is expected to be negative, threatening global food security, whereas others (e.g., [11]) considered that global crop production could increase by approximately 50% by 2050 without extra land.…”

Effects of elevated temperature on seed germination and seedling growth on three cereal crops in Nigeria

“…This according to Eitzinger et al (2010) is due to anthropogenic and natural factors. Smith and Olesen (2010) described the emissions of greenhouse gases from agricultural systems as likely sources of global temperature increase.…”

Identification of New Alleles in Salt Tolerant Rice Germplasm Lines through Phenotypic and Genotypic Screening

“…Therefore, it is suggested that pyramiding of significant traits/alleles at both stages is required for developing salt tolerant rice cultivars (Moradi et al, 2003). Besides, present global warming by increasing temperature necessitates identification of source of rice lines with more efficient alleles in order to tolerate adverse effects of climate change (IPCC, 2007;Eitzinger et al, 2010). In this study, three rice lines (Marishal, Kamini and Talmugra) were selected as highly tolerant under salinity (12 dS m -1…”

“…In inland areas, salt deposition is expected to increase as a consequence of increased evapotranspiration and water shortage with rising temperatures. Moreover, the earth's climate is predicted to still warm by an average of 2-4°C by the end of the 21 st century due to both anthropogenic and natural factors (IPCC, 2007;Eitzinger et al, 2010). In this context, rice breeders are being insisted for the need of further enhancement in tolerance or combination of more than one trait in rice cultivars in order to increase rice production under changing climate for fulfilling rapidly growing food demands of increasing human population.…”