For at least 10,000 years, agriculture has been central to the way people live. Yet across that immense span of time, there probably has been no time when the enterprise of growing our food has been more crucial to the world than right now.

随着气候变化越来越多地影响着我们周围的世界,农民在克服越来越不稳定和极端天气以及昆虫,害虫和植物疾病的威胁加剧的同时,挑战世界的挑战中心和焦点。而且,除非更积极地解决气候变化,否则科学界广泛同意这种情况只会变得更糟。188bet网址怎么打不开

Farmers hold an important key to a brighter future. Worldwide, theagriculture industry加上林业和其他土地利用变化,约占与人类相关的温室气体排放的24%。农民有一个重要的机会来帮助减少这些排放,并采取行动减轻气候变化及其对它们,农作物和我们其他人的影响。通过使用现代农业实践和技术,农民正在减少排放,并帮助我们所有人的未来。

就个人而言,我相信我们有很大的理由乐观。这就是原因。

当我写这些话时,我的一些同事在波恩,德国, attending the United Nations Climate Conference, an international gathering on climate action. They tell me that it’s impossible to be there and not feel the urgency of the moment and encouragement for the future, sentiments that I, too, share.

最近,联合国的环境计划为这次会议奠定了基础报告。Both governments and non-governmental organizations must boost their efforts dramatically, the report said, if we are “going to save hundreds of millions of people from a miserable future” brought on by climate change. “We still find ourselves in a situation where we are not doing nearly enough,” the organization’s executive director, Erik Solheim, added in apress release

然而,该报告还详细介绍了可用于减少温室气体排放的不同行业(包括农业)的巨大潜力。

这就是为什么我感到如此乐观的原因:我从自己的农业职业中学到了构成这一全球行业的伟大人物将升起到这一场合。

Farmers have always adapted to change. They have been ever diligent and focused on providing from the land. More than most industries, agriculture is still mainly an inter-generational family enterprise, farmers everywhere think like stewards. They want to preserve their land and their farm for their children.

Farmers know how to do this, and with further advances in science and innovation they’ll be able to do even more. What agriculture needs to make farming more resilient and climate-smart are robust regulatory frameworks that are guided by sound science. With that in place, our challenge will be largely one of increasing adoption of what we already know is effective and continuing to develop science-based solutions that work for the good of farmers, society and the natural environment.

我感到困惑的是,许多拥抱气候变化背后的合理科学的人拒绝了二十年的科学研究,这些科学研究一次又一次地表明,从转基因种子(GMO)种植的作物(GMO)对人们来说是安全的,对环境更适合。

这些技术促进了保护耕作,在那里,农民根本不扭动土壤(无耕种),要么将其变成少于通常在为土壤准备种植和杂草控制的土壤方面比他们通常会更少的(减少耕作)。结果不仅减少了对化石燃料,灌溉和机械的需求,而且更少的是土壤侵蚀,而且 - 在抵抗气候变化方面,最重要的是碳在土壤中的储存更多。包括孟山都在内的许多公司提供的转基因生物的作物生产系统也有能力生产更多的生产植物,并能够在更少的土地上获得更好的收获。综上所述,这些优势已经导致过去20年中减少了约2.27亿吨温室气体排放。吸收这么多的碳将需要超过2.67亿英亩的森林,占美国所有林地约35%。

现在,科学为我们提供了更新的创新,如果我们拥抱它们,这将使农业更多地推向碳中立。数字工具和数据科学正在帮助农民就何时何地使用营养,农药和水做出更好的明智决定,这意味着他们种植更多的作物,其投入较低,环境影响较小。使用微生物种子处理产品 - 涂有真菌和细菌有益于生长的种子 - 为增加土壤健康和生产强大的农作物提供了巨大的潜力,可为我们提供更多的食物,并随着生长的生长而在土壤中保持更多的温室气体。

Ironically, some of the things we need to do more of are not at all new. Thousands of years ago, Virgil, the ancient Roman poet, rightfully noted that planting cover crops between growing seasons can bring better harvests. Today, thanks to science and data modeling, we know that cover crops absorb carbon as they grow and help keep the soil intact, better storing that carbon.

通过涵盖农作物和减少耕作的气候智能实践的采用不足,这就是为什么农业拥有如此多的希望,作为帮助减轻气候变化的解决方案的一部分。但是,如果我们想有所作为,我们需要快速扩展这一点。

Here’s yet more grounds for my optimism:

In December 2015, my employer, Monsanto, committed itself to achieving carbon neutrality in its own operations by 2021. At the time, I remember thinking that the goal was reachable, but the timeline? Bold.

Yet now, nearly two years down the road,我们最近宣布我们的早期进展表明,我们将碳足迹减少了200,000吨以上,这相当于将近4,300万辆汽车带走。我们知道这仅仅是开始的开始,并且期望我们的降低速度会加速,但是现在,世界各地的组织和个人的每一次逐步减少都会有所作为。仅考虑我们整体承诺的一部分 - 我们与生产我们出售种子的种植者的努力。通过采用保护耕作和种植覆盖作物,这些种植者已经将与种子种子种植相关的温室气体排放足迹减少了约85%。

But that’s really only part of the story. The other part is the extraordinary cooperation and collaboration that we have with these contract growers and so many other parties to our effort. Governmental entities like the U.S. Department of Agriculture; business groups like the National Corn Growers Association and the Climate-Smart Agriculture Working Group of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development; environmental groups like Conservation International, the Environmental Defense Fund and The Nature Conservancy – all of these, and many more, have joined together with the kind of urgency we need.

毫无疑问,我们所有人都为我们削减了工作。农业面临着一个前所未有的挑战。但:

  • Take the practices, technologies and know-how that can drastically reduce emissions;
  • 加上许多愿意共同努力的热情,有组织的合作;
  • Blend in the passion of farmers everywhere to preserve the land for future generations;
  • 而且 - 随着科学的出色进步,我们有很多理由相信。

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Image credit: USDA