California is once again at the forefront of national climate change policy. California’s Department of Natural Resources recently issued the nation’s first state-wide strategy of its kind that lays out a blue print for how California should adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change. Many of these impacts, including severe drought, increased wildfires and floods, and prolonged warmer temperatures are already being felt across the state. The plan puts forth key recommendations across seven different sectors, including agriculture.
Unfortunately, the action plan for agriculture leaves out one critical proven strategy for coping with extreme weather events: the promotion of organic agricultural practices that will make soils healthier and more productive, while also conserving water and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. The draft adaptation strategy points out what most critics of federal and state climate change legislation constantly fail to acknowledge: That taking no action to address climate change now could cost key sectors in the state “tens of billions of dollars per year in direct costs.�
When it comes to agriculture, we can not afford these costs. Besides lost production and reduced yields, there are many other potential impacts, including threats to food security and wildlife, increases in pests, diseases and invasive species, increased soil erosion, and reduced soil and water quality, to name a few. Unfortunately, the draft strategy fails to even include agriculture among its top twelve priority actions.
At a public hearing last week in Sacramento, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) offered its suggestions for strengthening and prioritizing organic and sustainable agricultural practices among the adaptation measures proposed for the agriculture sector. First and foremost, the adaptation strategy should give higher priority to the promotion of proven, cost-effective soil management strategies—such as cover cropping, conservation tillage, mulching, nutrient management and organic agriculture—which will make soils more productive, farms more resilient, and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas emissions. These practices will deliver numerous other benefits for farmers and the environment, including better water quality and enhanced soil, water and biodiversity conservation.
