Introduction

Abstract

In the last decade, an overwhelming consensus has emerged among scientists that the world has entered an era of rapid global climate change, much of which is attributable to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from human activity. Rapid global climate change is expected to impact agriculture by causing shifts in temperature, precipitation, soil quality, pest regimes, and seasonal growth patterns. The exact nature and degree of these changes for any given region will be difficult to predict. At the same time that the agricultural sector is impacted by climate change, research indicates that current agricultural activities are a significant source of greenhouse gases that aggravate climate disruption. The amount of GHGs emitted from an agricultural operation depends on its system and management.

To cope with climate change that is likely to be both rapid and unpredictable, agricultural systems must be resilient and able to adapt to change. Resilient agriculture systems are those that are more likely to maintain economic, ecological, and social benefits in the face of dramatic exogenous changes such as climate change and price swings. In the face of uncertainty, food production systems should be established which are diverse and relatively flexible, with integration and coordination of livestock and crop production.

Sustainable and organic agricultural systems can help reduce agricultural GHG emissions through energy conservation, lower levels of carbon-based inputs, lower use of synthetic fertilizer, and other features that minimize GHG emissions and sequester carbon in the soil. Agricultural land can serve as a sink for GHG emissions, especially through soil carbon sequestration, which could help moderate climate change. But agricultural land can serve as an effective GHG sink over the long term only if agricultural systems are adopted which improve overall soil quality and provide for relatively stable GHG reduction or sequestration. Agricultural crop and forage production system features include, among others, fertilizer use and efficiency, nitrogen sequestration, and overall GHG emissions of associated livestock production systems.