This past summer, July 2023 went down in history as the hottest month ever recorded.
The impacts of climate change on our world are getting harder to ignore, and farmers are on the frontlines both in experiencing that impact firsthand and holding a piece of the puzzle to a brighter path forward. Now is the time to understand – and prepare for – the effects that a changing climate can have on our farms and waterways.
To start, climate change makes droughts longer, more severe, and more frequent (U.S. Geological Survey). We’ve already seen evidence of this in the past few years with an increased number of major droughts per year (NASA).
These droughts can impact the application and efficacy of pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals used in conventional farming. During hot and dry weather, pesticides are more likely to drift from the target area where they were…
Read the full article originally published at rodaleinstitute.org.