“Climate change is bringing more severe and longer-lasting droughts to many locations around the world. Some ecosystems have shown resilience to increasing drought, but this could change as droughts become more severe,” said the study.

The research showed that losses in plant productivity — the creation of new organic matter through photosynthesis — were more than twice as high after four years of continued extreme drought when compared to losses from droughts of moderate intensity. Grassland and shrubland ecosystems especially lose their ability to recover over time under prolonged dry conditions.

“We show that — when combined — extreme, multi-year droughts have even more profound effects than a single year of extreme drought or multi-year moderate droughts,” said Colorado State University biology professor Melinda Smith, who led the study with Timothy Ohlert, a former CSU postdoctoral researcher.

“The Dust Bowl is a good example of this,” said Smith in a news release on the study. “Although it spanned nearly a decade it was only when there were consecutive extremely dry years that those effects, such as soil erosion and dust storms, occurred. Now with our changing climate, Dust Bowl-type droughts are expected to occur more frequently.”

Smith designed and led the International Drought Experiment with more than 170 researchers around the world. For the project, researchers built rainfall manipulation structures that reduced each rainfall event by a target amount over a four-year period in grassland and shrubland ecosystems across six continents.

By simulating 1-in-100-year extreme drought conditions, the team was able to study the long- and short-term effects on grasslands and shrublands, which store more than 30 per cent of global carbon and support key industries, such as livestock production. Variations in precipitation, as well as soil and vegetation across continents, meant different sites experienced different combinations of moderate and extreme drought years — providing unique experimental conditions that informed the study.

The research also suggests that the negative impacts on plant productivity are likely to be much larger than previously expected under both extreme and prolonged drought conditions.

The post Prolonged drought causes unprecedented productivity loss: Study appeared first on Country Guide.

Keltie MacNeill is the director of sustainability and community engagement at Benjamin Bridge Winery and the niece of the founders, lawyers Gerry McConnell and the late Dara Gordon. She explains that Gerry and Dara set out to learn what kind of wine the land’s unique combination of soil, weather, sun and heat units could produce.

The partners in life and business researched and hired wine experts from Ontario and France and determined that their terroir (i.e., the environmental factors that affect a crop’s growth and development, and the specific characteristics that results from those factors) could produce excellent crisp sparkling white wines using traditional, Champagne-style methods.

But getting the winery up and running was a long-term proposition. From planting the vines, to harvesting the first grapes, making and then aging the wine, it took ten years to produce the first vintage. In the meantime, MacNeill says they released a low-alcohol summer wine called Nova 7 in 2008 “just for fun.” That wine turned out to be a big hit and has been the number one best-selling wine in Nova Scotia for a decade. Available across Canada, this wine is now a huge part of the winery’s portfolio and provides stability while they develop other wines.

In addition to producing award-winning wines, MacNeill says Gerry and Dara made it their mission to create a winery that would be sustainable and a positive addition to the community and landscape.

They wanted to become a “community-based winery.”

When the founders’ twin daughters, Ashley and Devon McConnell-Gordon, took over in 2010, the winery wasn’t open to the public, explains MacNeill, who joined her cousins in the business shortly after they took over. Since then, the twins have been “slowly and intentionally” building on the original vision. For example, they’ve expanded the winery’s programming from a small private tasting room to hosting many public events for all ages throughout the year.

Today the focus is on “creating a warm, welcoming environment in the Nova Scotia way,” says MacNeill. “It’s not about status. It’s about agriculture, it’s about community… the wines are world-class but not un-approachable.”

People first

The 170-acre winery has grown from a very small winery to one that employs 50 full-time staff and 50 seasonal workers. MacNeill says everything is done in-house from growing grapes and making the wines, to bottling and distribution. Sixty-five per cent of their ingredients are sourced from within an hour’s drive and MacNeill says they are always looking for ways to increase that percentage.

Although Ashley and Devon are in charge, MacNeill says the winery is run more like a collective with higher-level decisions made collaboratively by the eight or nine senior managers who each operate a department. “The small team at the top is in the loop about everything going on at the winery,” she says.

“They work on consensus-based decision-making with a lot of discussion,” says MacNeill, noting that women make up 85 per cent of the leadership team (as well as across the business), which is unusual in both agriculture and wine. “We will have very long meetings discussing topics until no one has any concerns,” she says, acknowledging that it’s not a management style for those who just want to jump in and get things done. However, she finds there is more buy-in, more autonomy and more accountability with this system.

Benjamin Bridge’s “people-first” ethos has been front and centre since the very beginning, says MacNeill. For example, to maintain life balance they’ve adopted a four-day workweek. They also supply a comfortable place for mothers to breastfeed.

MacNeill describes the winery’s organization as a “level hierarchy” where the gap between the highest and lowest paid workers is very slim. “Everyone has their roles defined but everyone moves where help is needed including the twin sisters who work in the business day-to-day, shoulder-to-shoulder with everyone else.” Their “open-book management” style hinges on a commitment to transparency, another value they’ve followed since the winery’s inception, she says.

Recently, Benjamin Bridge achieved its B Corp Certification, a designation that indicates a business is meeting high standards of verified performance, accountability and transparency on factors from sustainability to employee benefits, community support, supply chain practices and input materials.

MacNeill says they chose this particular certification because “it really spoke to them” as a way of expressing their values to their customers, the community and their team members in a holistic way. When she looked into what was required to meet B Corp Certification, she realized many of the requirements had already been met but were not yet enshrined in the winery’s policies.

She says they also take pride in the economic prosperity they have created in the Gaspereau Valley, a small valley within the Annapolis Valley. “Those are 50 jobs that weren’t there before,” she says. And in a region with historically low incomes, this rural economic development also draws tourists to the region.

Community building

MacNeill says that for the past decade, the winery has focused on social values which include collaborating with community groups and progressing on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. She admits it can be difficult and overwhelming for a small business to find its way with DEI but they have learned you get there by having conversations and building relationships with the community. “It can be intimidating but the most important thing is to start and to start small, building slowly and intentionally with community resources. You’re going to make mistakes but it’s that active learning piece that’s important.”

As part of active reconciliation, the winery, has established a relationship with the nearby Glooscap First Nation. This collaboration resulted in a very successful Beyond Terroir event which was held for five years. And, through many thoughtful conversations, a popular wine has also been developed. The winery covers the cost of production while the shared profits support meaningful initiatives in the community. “We feel like we’re including Indigenous voices even though we’re not Indigenous ourselves,” says MacNeill.

Benjamin Bridge has also reached out to other community organizations, such as the Valley African Nova Scotia Development Association, through which senior management participated in anti-racism training workshops.

Building resilience to climate change

Incidences of hail, early and late frosts, droughts, cold snaps, and now forest fires have increased and are here to stay, says MacNeill. To survive the increasingly erratic weather, the winery is making changes to what they produce and how they produce it.

“Climate chaos is not for the weak,” she says. “Crops have to be more resilient and we have to be prepared to pivot.” Sourcing grapes from local growers spreads the risk as not all geographic locations will experience the same damaging weather. Changes to their production methods, such as non-vintage wines made by blending wines from multiple years instead of from a single year’s harvest, also “provides a little insurance,” MacNeill says.

“We need to be prepared for anything, to be agile and flexible,” says MacNeill, adding that they stay up to date on the latest science by participating in studies at the local university. They also ensure their voices as farmers are heard by participating on climate change panels.

Working together

Twenty wineries and about 60 grape growers comprise Nova Scotia’s small wine industry. MacNeill says working together by sharing equipment and developing growing techniques for the unique terroir of their region is essential to the success of the fledgling industry.

Annapolis Valley conditions produce great wines with naturally high acidity (Nova Scotia’s unique flavour profiles are recognized by the appellation “Tidal Bay”), but MacNeill says their growing conditions are much wetter than the dry soils of the Middle East where wine grapes originated. Techniques used to combat excess moisture include tile-draining the land, trellising systems that maximize ventilation and solar exposure, and spraying to control moulds and mildews. Development of hybrid grapes unique to Nova Scotia with better winter hardiness, such as l’Acadie Blanc, have also contributed to the industry’s success.

Producing the signature wines with the delicate flavours and natural acidity that the region is known for requires late-season harvest, in October or even into early November. “This is what put us on the map. That’s what you taste that can’t be replicated elsewhere,” says MacNeill. It also means gambling that the weather will hold until harvest is complete.

Looking toward the future

Benjamin Bridge is a trailblazer of non-alcoholic wines and an increased demand for non-alcoholic beverages means there is a good business case for producing zero-alcohol and low-alcohol wines. This also fits into their mission to be more inclusive. “It’s the fastest-growing sector of the market and a lot of fun,” says MacNeill.

Offering year-round events and drop-in wine service on the open-air terrace also capitalizes on the growing demand for agri-tourism, says MacNeill. “We have wonderful experiences that we offer on the farm for connecting to nature and to the farm.”

MacNeill says they will keep looking for the small wins and for ways to innovate. “Innovation is in our blood. It’s about continuous change. It’s about the long game.”

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This weather system occurs all over the world. It starts when a large amount of water vapor from tropical oceans is carried by a jet stream toward land. As the air rises, it cools and condenses, resulting in rain or snow. They most commonly form in mid-latitude oceans, roughly 30 and 60 degrees north and south, according to NASA. They appear as a trail of wispy clouds that can stretch for hundreds of miles.

Atmospheric rivers can carry up to 15 times the volume of the Mississippi River, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Most atmospheric rivers are weak and do not cause damage. They can provide much-needed rain or snow.

Sometimes they do both. In drought-stricken California, such storms have triggered mudslides, toppled utility poles and blocked roadways, but also helped replenish depleted reservoirs and reduced the risk of wildfires by saturating the state’s parched vegetation.

In 2019, an atmospheric river nicknamed the “Pineapple Express” hit California. The water vapor from near Hawaii brought rain and triggered mudslides that forced motorists to swim for their lives and sent homes sliding downhill.

In 2021, an atmospheric river dumped a month’s worth of rain on British Columbia in two days, prompting deadly floods and landslides, devastating communities and severing access to Canada’s largest port.

According to scientists, atmospheric rivers of the kind that drenched California and flooded British Columbia in recent years will become larger—and possibly more destructive—because of climate change. There are projected to be 10 per cent fewer atmospheric rivers in the future, but they are expected to be 25 per cent wider and longer and carry more water, according to a 2018 research paper.

This could make managing water supply much harder as moderate atmospheric rivers, which can be beneficial for water supplies, will be less frequent, and strong ones could become more calamitous.

The post What are atmospheric rivers and why do they cause flooding?   appeared first on Country Guide.

The poll of 858 producers from coast to coast determined that farmers rank climate change as their No. 1 concern.

“When farmers and ranchers were asked an open-ended question—at the very beginning of the poll—about the top challenge for the agricultural sector for the next decade, climate change was the number one answer,” says Farmers for Climate Solutions, a group, that as its name suggests, is focused on climate change mitigation and adaptation within Canadian agriculture.

The organization hired Leger, a market research firm, to conduct the survey.

It was done by phone from Aug. 8 to Sept. 8.

The headline question from the poll asked farmers to identify the top challenge for the agriculture sector over the next 10 years.

The results?

• 17.9 percent said climate change.
• Input costs were 17.2 percent.
• Government policy and regulations, 11.5 percent.
• Market uncertainty/price volatility, 9.8 percent.
• About 5.8 percent of respondents ranked severe weather as their No. 1 challenge over the next decade.

Brent Preston, president of Farmers for Climate Solutions, said the poll result was unexpected.

“I was surprised that climate change was right at the top. I thought it would be a concern for most producers, but I didn’t think it would be the number one concern,” said Preston, a vegetable grower from Creemore, Ont.

Farmers for Climate Solution decided to pay for a poll because it wanted information on how farmers feel about climate change and related issues.

He said it’s important to have this sort of data when meeting with federal and provincial officials.

“We’re hoping it will give us ammunition when we talk to politicians and policy makers,” he said.

“We can now say, ‘look, this is an issue that’s top of mind for producers and we’re hoping governments are going to do more to help up adapt.’ ”

East-west split

The poll suggests that Canadian farmers are anxious about climate change, but the details within the 37-page report tell a more nuanced story.

Eastern farmers are concerned about the climate, while western producers are less so:

• 116 farmers out of 450 respondents (26 per cent) from the East ranked climate change as the biggest challenge over the next decade.
• In the West, 38 of 408 respondents (9.3 per cent) said climate change was the biggest challenge.
• Nearly three times more farmers in Quebec, Ontario and the Maritimes are worried about climate change.

The gap between East and West is striking, Preston acknowledged.

“There’s a very clear difference in perception or attitude,” he said, adding that farmers across Canada have some concerns about climate change.

“Everywhere in the country, climate change is in the top three.”

In its report, Farmers for Climate Solutions noted that Prairie farmers are less concerned about the issue.

“Input costs and government policies are seen as the top challenges (in the West).”

In more detail, 21 per cent of western farmers said input costs are their top challenge. About 16 per cent said government policy and regulations. Around 12 per cent cited market uncertainty and nine per cent said climate change.

The poll received responses from 858 people across Canada, including 247 farmers from Quebec. That’s nearly 29 per cent of the total for a province that has five per cent of the country’s arable land.

Comparing the total number of poll respondents, 450 out of 858 were from Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. The remainder, 408, were from the West.

A critical piece of data that could be missing from the poll is the opinions of large-scale farmers.

Of all the producers who responded, about 50 percent said they have farm revenues of zero to $500,000. Only 7.6 per cent in the survey had revenues of $3 million or higher.

More large producers are likely needed in the survey to paint an accurate picture.

“You might be right. We may have over-represented small farmers,” Preston said, adding it was difficult for Leger to acquire lists and contact information of producers.

“The sample is definitely not perfect…. We’re not going to use these results to say that definitively, X percentage of farmers think (this or that) … but we think the sample is good enough to make some broad inferences.”

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Inside the domes, researchers are growing pears in a controlled environment that simulates how climate change will affect the region in 2040. Their aim is to see what global warming has in store for Europe’s fruit growers.

“We expect more heatwaves and less even precipitation, so more droughts and floods as well. And overall, slightly higher temperatures,” Francois Rineau, associate professor at the University of Hasselt, said of the simulated climate inside the domes.

Early results from the scientists’ first harvest in 2023 suggest Belgian pears may be spared some of the worst impacts of climate change – which scientists expect to cut some crop yields and hike growers’ costs for irrigation to combat drought.

“The effect of climate change at the 2040 horizon on the quality of pears was very minor. However, we found a difference in how the ecosystem was functioning,” Rineau said, noting that an earlier growing season in the 2040 simulation appeared to result in the ecosystem absorbing more CO2.

Year-to-year variability means that one year alone cannot capture intermittent extreme weather and other changes in the climate which can wreak havoc on crops. The three-year experiment will cover three harvests.

This year’s harvest of 2040-era pears is being studied at the Flanders Centre of Postharvest Technology (VCBT), to check the fruits’ size, firmness and sugar content – and compare them to pears grown in domes simulating today’s climate.

“If we have a higher temperature on the trees, pears tend to be less firm and have more sugar,” VCBT researcher Dorien Vanhees said.

That’s bad news for growers. Less-firm fruit survives a shorter period in storage, reducing the quantity of pears growers can sell.

Floods, hail and drought have already affected European pear growers in recent years, as climate change begins to leave fingerprints on growing patterns.

Belgium’s pear production is expected to plunge by 27 per cent this year, according to the World Apple and Pear Association, owing to factors including an unusually early bloom and unusually late frost.

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Despite her best efforts, unpredictable temperatures, humidity and air quality changes led to the deaths of thousands of chicks, a lesson that would propel her to commit her life to making African farms more climate-resilient.

“Nigeria’s unprecedented rainfalls and weather patterns are not predictable, and with heat and cold stresses our birds were dying,” the 34-year-old agricultural engineer said in a telephone interview with the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We understand that innovation is pivotal to combating climate-related issues around food insecurity,” she said.

Akpagbula last year launched a remote-sensing device called PenKeep that monitors and controls environmental conditions in poultry farms. She is now extending the technology into aquaculture and greenhouse farms.

Alongside container farms in South Africa cultivating soldier flies for animal feed, solar-powered fish and crop dryers in Tanzania and machine-learning pest detectors in Kenya, Africans are coming up with innovative solutions to overcome the effects of climate change on food production.

Such solutions are going to be needed as Africa, according to a new United Nations report, is the continent most impacted by hunger.

Together with conflict and economic crises, climate shocks are leaving Africa at the epicentre of a hunger crisis, with one in five – some 300 million people – short of food.

It is also the continent most vulnerable to climate shocks, while contributing the least to carbon emissions.

“Current societal inequalities, such as resource constraints, make it even more difficult to source funds to adapt to these changes,” said Mulako Kabisa, from the Global Change Institute research platform at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.

“Home-grown solutions matter because they take into cognizance the local context … and what will be sustainable in the long run,” she said in emailed comments.

Sensors and solar

PenKeep’s solar-powered device interprets data from sensors that monitor environmental changes including temperature, water levels and air quality in poultry coops. Farmers are alerted of condition changes through SMS, email or an alarm.

It is being used by more than 1,200 chicken farmers in western and northern Nigeria, with more than 100,000 chickens monitored in the company’s first six months. Subscriptions of around $15 a month make it more affordable for farmers, Akpagbula said.

Users can also use an artificial intelligence (AI) management app called FS Manager that provides farmers with information including management advice, weather updates and book-keeping services.

“Nigeria has millions of poultry farmers … but they are not producing enough … because they are spending so much on energy and they have a lot of poultry mortality as a result of their environment,” said Akpagbula.

Farmers using PenKeep have seen poultry mortality rates decrease by 72 per cent, Akpagbula said.

In east Africa, Tanzanian Evodius Rutta also utilizes the continent’s abundance of sun through his MAVUNOLAB Solar Dryer that helps subsistence fish processors and farmers rapidly dry out produce including fish, fruits and vegetables, preventing post-harvest food loss.

Small-scale fish processors at Lake Victoria in western Tanzania have begun using his dryer, reducing the drying time of 250 kg of fish from 12 hours to four.

Climate variability has led to erratic rains that can spoil up to 50 per cent of fishermen’s harvests as they do not have access to cold storage, said Rutta, a sustainability researcher and MAVUNOLAB innovation hub founder.

“Because of the rains and high tides, it has also become very dangerous for fishermen that go to the sea and the lakes,” Rutta, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation in a telephone interview.

“We need low-cost solutions for farmers to adapt to changing climate patterns because it’s going to be unavoidable,” Rutta said, adding that he was getting requests from farmers in Zimbabwe, Uganda and Kenya to use his invention.

Pest detection

Climate change can impact environmental factors such as temperature and humidity that can in turn influence the life cycle and spread of crop pests, according to the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization.

Pests are already responsible for at least 40 per cent of crop loss worldwide.

Kenyan computer scientist Esther Kimani witnessed this first-hand growing up when pests decimated up to one-third of her family’s pea, potato and maize crops in the south of Kenya.

By the time the pests were detected, the destruction was so severe that even using pesticides became pointless.

Kimani was inspired to invent the Early Crop Pest and Disease Detection Device – a solar-powered tool that uses AI and machine learning-enabled cameras to rapidly detect and alert farmers of pests and diseases.

Kimani’s invention is being used by more than 5,000 farmers across Kenya since its launch in 2020. A group-leasing model reduces the cost to each farmer to $3 per month.

The device also advises farmers about which pesticides to use when, according to predicted climatic changes.

Kimani estimates that more than 3,000 acres of land have been protected from pest infestation by her invention.

She recently won the Royal Academy of Engineering’s African Prize for Engineering Innovation, for which Akpagbula and Rutta were also short-listed.

Climate crisis

Some home-grown innovations are also focusing on protecting agricultural output while reducing carbon emissions.

South Africa’s Philafeed helps build tailor-made black soldier fly container farms. The fly larvae feed on food waste, diverting planet-heating methane emissions from landfills.

The larvae can also be used as a protein feed for livestock, reducing the need for carbon-intensive soya and fish meal.

The larvae manure, a byproduct known as frass, helps increase soil and plant tolerance against drought and flooding, and in turn can increase crop yield in times of climate uncertainty.

“Through black soldier flies we want farmers to be able to diversify their income if there is a failed season due to climate change,” said Maya Zaken, Philafeed co-founder.

Philafeed is currently piloting its new container model in Cape Town.

Despite initial funding challenges and struggles to get farmer buy-in, Akpagbula has faith that her innovation, alongside others on the continent, will soon become essential to farmers as climate shocks become more severe and more frequent.

“People always say why now? Why you doing this now?” said Akpagbula. “I tell them it’s because of the urgency of the climate crisis.”

—The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. 

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That has Lupe Gonzalo worried.

“A lot of places in the field, you don’t have access to shade, to clean and fresh drinking water,” said Gonzalo, a senior staff member with the non-profit Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), who works with farmworkers across several southern states.

For years Gonzalo picked tomatoes, berries, sweet potatoes and other produce, and the heat was always an issue. But her concerns are mounting.

“It’s getting hotter and hotter as climate change continues, and it will continue to be an issue for workers,” Gonzalo, 43, told the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

“We’ve already seen far too many people become ill and even lose their lives. So this is truly an urgent issue,” she said.

While regulations to protect agricultural workers from the heat have been held up by political wrangling, Gonzalo and her colleagues have spearheaded an alternate strategy.

They seek to sidestep the slow and increasingly politicized government machinery and instead appeal directly to consumers and large brands.

Gonzalo and others in the CIW set up the Fair Food Program to strike deals directly with large companies.

The companies pledge to pay fair wages, eliminate sexual harassment and other issues – including increasingly stringent heat protections – in return for Fair Food Program certification for their products.

The heat-related measures include providing shade, having required breaks, training for workers and supervisors, electrolyte-infused water, and the ability to seek care without fear of retaliation.

‘Sourced for good’

The program currently covers tens of thousands of workers in 10 states, through agreements with companies such as Walmart, McDonald’s, Subway and others.

The group also works with farmworkers in Chile and South Africa, and is seeking to expand to other countries.

At national grocery store Whole Foods, for instance, consumers can purchase Fair Food Program-certified sweet potatoes and cut flowers labelled as “Sourced for Good”.

Now the program’s reach is about to expand significantly, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) highlighted its approach for special acknowledgement under a new program aimed at addressing human rights and worker retention on farms.

Last month, the first-ever pilot awards were made under the program, which the Fair Food Program said would see it expand to 13 new states, nearly doubling the number of farms covered.

Tomato grower Jon Esformes, whose company received one of the awards, has implemented the Fair Food Program guidelines on his operations across the United States and Mexico, though the CIW is not present in the latter country.

He said he took the steps after sitting down for the first time to simply talk with CIW leaders about their concerns.

“I found very quickly a group of people that were interested in the same things I was interested in,” he said. “We want to provide a safe and fair workplace, we want to have transparency, we need our workers to feel like it is their farm.”

Protection decades overdue

The U.S. government has dragged its feet on worker heat protections for decades, said Juanita Constible, a senior advocate with the heat solutions program at the Natural Resources Defense Council.

About 51 million U.S. workers are at high risk to heat, with less than a fifth of those covered by standards, the think tank has found.

The federal government is only now updating 1970s rules, last week releasing a proposal that would offer heat protections for indoor and outdoor workers, including requiring employers to provide workers with water and shaded or air-conditioned areas above certain temperatures.

Still, a final rule could take years, with recent moves by the Supreme Court potentially further threatening such efforts.

While business associations said they were still reviewing the new proposal, farming and construction lobby groups have criticized early steps in the new process, warning of burdens to businesses.

Yet, Constible said, “the research has kept piling up that heat is not only potentially deadly to workers, but also drastically affects their productivity – billions of work hours lost in the U.S. and around the world because it’s too darn hot.”

The probability of work-related accidents rises by nearly six per cent when temperatures pass 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), according to research from the Workers Compensation Research Institute published in May.

In the absence of federal action, five states have passed their own laws with a sixth on the horizon, though these vary significantly in scope.

Cities have also taken proactive steps, including in June in Tucson, Arizona, but such efforts have run into political resistance, with new local rules in Florida and Texas halted by state officials.

Constible worries such politicization could continue, which she says underscores the importance of the Fair Food Program’s strategy of appealing to brands and consumers.

“I’m a huge fan. I think it’s been amazingly significant for those workers,” she said.

Farms that can ensure workers feel safe and have access to the tools to keep them healthy have found it easier to entice prospective workers, a UDSA spokesperson said.

That is what Esformes, the CEO of Pacific Tomato Growers, has found amid recent worker shortages.

“When the rest of North America was reeling with lack of workers, we did not have enough jobs for the people who wanted to work for us. And the reason is we’ve created a workplace-of-choice environment,” said Esformes, 61.

He said May saw the hottest temperatures ever recorded in parts of Florida, just as farms were in full harvest, but that Fair Food Program heat guidelines were in operation for the nearly 3,500 workers on the company’s 15,000 acres (6,070 hectares).

“There’s definitely a cost associated with it. Electrolyte powder is not cheap; breaks aren’t cheap,” Esformes said. “But you know what also is not cheap? People getting sick and people feeling like they’re not safe.”

—The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters. 

—Updated July 9. Clarifies that CIW is not present in Mexico.

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For most of Canada, complex climate models predict wetter springs, hotter and drier summers, milder winters and more extreme weather such as droughts, floods, heat waves, hail and tornadoes.

The list of potential effects is long. Wetter springs could delay seeding and increase the need for tile drainage. Heat stress during the flowering period for wheat and canola could reduce yields. Milder winters could result in the migration of new pests and diseases which could also affect a crop’s marketability. More frequent droughts affect pasture land and cattle grazing and increase demand for irrigation using scarce water resources while more intense rainfall events could cause flooding and soil erosion. Severe storms could lead to more power outages that would affect livestock heating and cooling systems and automated feeding and milking systems.

In short, a changing climate will add to the strain on farm finances and the well-being of farm families.

The highs and lows

There is strong evidence that Canada’s climate is already changing. According to a report from Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, between 1948 and 2016, the best estimate of mean annual temperature increase is 1.7 degrees Celsius for Canada as a whole. Northern Canada is heating up even faster.

This could mean longer growing seasons and the potential to grow different crop varieties or new crops. A report by Natural Resources Canada, for example, predicted the continued northward expansion of areas adapted to small cereal crops, particularly in north-central Canada. (Although the report also warns that summer water deficits in some boreal regions would accelerate soil carbon losses and diminish already limited soil quality.)

That same report projected yield declines in Quebec for wheat, soybeans, green peas, onions, tomatoes and cabbage but possible yield increases for corn, sorghum, canola, sunflowers, potatoes, tobacco and sugar beets.

Impacts are already being felt by Canadian farmers. According to the most recent Census of Agriculture, over the last decade more than 200,000 Canadian farmers experienced cost increases and/or a loss of revenue as a result of a changing climate.

Scoping out the opportunities

Tracey Baute, a field crop entomologist at the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, thinks farmers will need to take a more integrated approach to pest management to combat changes in pest pressure. Insects are directly tied to temperature, she says, noting that means there could be new or overwintering pests, pests having more generations, or disruptions in the synchronization between pests and their natural enemies. She is also concerned that there could be “more resistance issues with pesticides.”

Baute predicts that farmers will likely need to rely less on one pest management strategy. Additional strategies could include scouting more frequently, collaborative monitoring, diversification of crop rotations, or creating habitat for natural enemies through intercropping, cover crops, flowering strips or connecting corridors between habitats. As part of a long-term strategy, improving soil health would also help crops to be more resilient to pests.

Mike Belan, who farms near Oil Springs, Ont., says protecting the soil is critical in their operation in order to be more resilient “when it’s too dry, too hot or there’s too much rain too fast,” he says. He found that participating in the Ontario Soil Network Challenge was a good opportunity for him to meet like-minded people focused on building soil health.

Belan discovered that a combination of 100 per cent no till and growing a cover crop mix of oats, crimson clover, radish, peas and triticale after winter wheat is paying off with better soil structure and water infiltration on his heavy clay soil. He is also experimenting with biostrips and interseeding a cover crop into standing corn.

Managing the risks

The resiliency and well-being of the farm team is also a crucial component of farm sustainability. Coping with adverse weather and other elements out of their control can be very anxiety-producing, says Deborah VanBerkel, a registered psychotherapist with the Canadian Centre for Agricultural Wellbeing. The centre is working to foster resilience among Canadian farmers by increasing the availability of mental health supports. These programs are aimed at increasing the mental health literacy of those working in agriculture as well as increasing the ag literacy of counsellors so they are better equipped to understand the unique challenges faced by farmers.

The centre is also working on a tool kit to help producers cope with catastrophic events such as livestock disease outbreaks, extreme weather events, or financial crises.

There are many resources to help farmers adapt to the uncertainties of climate change. For example, farmers can leverage crop insurance, improved crop genetics, technological advancements and government programs that provide funding for adaptive farm management practices.

Organizations that support on-farm research and peer-to-peer learning, such as the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association and the Ontario Soil Network (a consortium of passionate farmers, researchers and environmental advocates), are helping farmers determine optimal management practices. The ALUS organization is helping farmers and ranchers nation-wide implement nature-based climate solutions through collaboration at the local level.

Mathieu Lipari, program manager at Farm Management Canada (FMC), explains that although climate change hasn’t really changed the types of risks that farmers are facing, it has increased the frequency or likelihood of certain risk and this must be accounted for when a farm conducts their risk assessment. Having a risk management plan can both increase profits and reduce producer stress.

To help farmers assess and mitigate a wide range of risks identified by farmers and other industry experts, FMC created AgriShield, an online platform that includes risks associated with climate change.

Heather Watson, executive director at FMC, makes the case for taking a comprehensive approach to risk management planning rather than considering individual risks. “It is important to understand the connections between the various areas of responsibility in farming,” she says. As an example, she points out that while it may make sense from a climate management perspective to put in tile drainage or irrigation to manage moisture, it may not make sense from a financial perspective.

Unfortunately, many farmers are not taking advantage of the benefits of taking a long-term, proactive approach to managing risks and seizing opportunities, says Watson. FMC’s research shows that only one in five farmers in Canada has a strategic plan for their operation.

Agronomists, veterinarians and other farm advisors can help farmers stay abreast of changes in pest and disease pressure or other risks associated with climate change. Watson encourages farm advisors to use AgriShield (myagrishield.ca) with their clients to help them with risk management planning. Watson notes that AgriShield also aligns with the Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Platform which is increasingly required in the industry.

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Europe’s climate agenda is entering a difficult phase as it begins to touch sensitive sectors, such as farming, and as traditional industries face fierce green tech competition from China.

While the overall target was within the range recommended by the EU’s official climate science advisers, the EU executive weakened part of the recommendation concerning agriculture, in response to weeks of protests by farmers angry about EU green rules, among other complaints.

A previous draft of the EU target, seen by Reuters, had said agriculture would need to cut non-CO2 emissions 30 per cent by 2040 from 2015 levels to comply with the overall climate goal. That was removed from the final draft.

“We need to make sure we have a balanced approach,” European Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra told the European Parliament, as he unveiled the proposal. “The vast majority of our citizens sees the effects of climate change, does want protection, but is also worried about what that implies for their livelihood.”

Tuesday’s proposal will kick off political debate on the target, but it will be up to a new EU Commission and Parliament, formed after European Parliament elections in June, to pass the final target.

Polls show the June election could deliver a major shift to the right in the EU Parliament, which could make passing ambitious climate policies harder.

EU election

The apparent concession to farmers did not satisfy many right-wing members of the EU’s parliament who said the Commission’s green targets would constrain lifestyles and the economy.

“The farmers are revolting in Europe and the European Commission is coming with further unrealistic ambitions,” said Alexandr Vondra, from the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists Group, criticizing what he called a drive to “force people to have a different lifestyle.”

Sylvia Limmer, an MEP from Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) criticized EU leaders for being “stupidly happy” about cutting CO2 emissions, adding that green policies were responsible for what she called a major economic meltdown.

On the other side, Left Group MEP Silvia Mordig said agriculture also needed to make an effort. “Don’t make the … mistake of not talking about agriculture, it does not solve the problem,” Green MEP Bas Eickhout said.

Energy mix

In its proposal, the Commission said the EU should set an economy-wide 2040 target for 90 per cent net greenhouse gas cuts compared with 1990 levels.

The EU plan focused on building an edge in European clean-tech industries, and maintaining public support for climate policy as the EU heads into the elections.

The aim is to keep European Union countries on track between the EU’s existing 2030 climate goal and its long-term aim of achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

The 2040 target would transform Europe’s energy mix, with coal-fueled power phased out and overall fossil fuel use reduced by 80 per cent and replaced with renewable and nuclear power.

The draft also laid out the cost of failing to tackle climate change, in the form of more destructive extreme weather which could mean additional costs of 2.4 trillion euros in the EU by 2050 if global warming is not limited to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

The EU reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 33 per cent in 2022, from 1990 levels.

A second EU document, also published on Tuesday, outlined plans to capture and store hundreds of millions of tons of CO2 emissions by 2050 – one of many areas requiring huge investment in new technologies.

-Reporting for Reuters by Kate Abnett and Ingrid Melander.

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Senator Yuen Pau Woo introduced the amendment on Dec. 7, saying it would align it with the deadline on the Liberal government’s heating oil carbon price exemption.

This is the second amendment to Bill C-234, An Act to amend the Greenhouse Gas Pollution Pricing Act. The first amendment removed fuels for heating barns and greenhouses from exemptions proposed in the bill.

Farm groups and government officials aligned with the bill have expressed concerns that, since the bill must now be returned to the House of Commons for further debate, it will be delayed until it dies on the order paper. Senators aligned against the bill have been accused of using delay tactics to try to kill a bill the Liberal government doesn’t like.

Today, the National Farmers Union (NFU) released a statement calling on political parties to prioritize and pass the bill.

In the statement, former NFU vice-president Glenn Wright said that while the NFU supports a price on carbon in general, farmers don’t have viable alternatives for drying grain.

“Because farmers are so climate-dependent—so vulnerable—it is in farmers’ interests that Canada and all nations reduce emissions as quickly as possible. Canada’s pollution-pricing system is a crucial part of that effort,” he said. “In this one case, however, because there are no alternative grain drying options for farmers, a temporary exemption is the right policy.”

He also said an amendment to remove an exemption on fuels for building heating creates a “pressing need” for financing and incentives for farmers to adopt more efficient heating options.

“The NFU recognizes that farmers can improve building efficiency and switch heating sources to clean technologies like heat pumps, but these renovations are capital intensive and farmers will need extensive financial support to decarbonize the heating of barns and greenhouses,” he said.

–updated Dec. 12 to add by how many years the sunset clause is reduced. 

—Geralyn Wichers is associate digital editor of AGCanada.com. She writes from southeastern Manitoba.

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