Global climate change and Minnesota agriculture

I was in Denver May 12-14 for Agriculture Research Service (ARS) Soil and Air Resource Management Air Quality and Global Change Research Customer/ Stakeholder Workshop. I had beeen invited by Dr. Abdullah Jaradat from the ARS research lab in Morris, MN. Dr. Jaradatalso happens to be a member of the Productive Conservation on Working Lands Technical Committee. The purpose of this workshop was to engage ARS stakeholders in the process of setting research priorities for the ARS in the coming five year period. ARS has identified global climate change as an urgent priority for research activities. Currently there is little conclusive data regarding the role of agriculture in greenhouse gas emissions, and there is a lack of knowledge on what effects climate change will have on agriculture. The focus of this workshop was placed on identifying specific topics that can be addressed by ARS in the next five years.

Attendees of this workshop included top ARS research scientists from across the country in addition to representatives from various Ag related businesses, industries, and farms. There were several scientists that were involved in the Nobel Prize winning International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). The IPCC was responsible for the report that Al Gore’s documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth” was based on. I was asked to contribute input to this meeting from the perspective of our work as a non-profit organization. Our work with PCWL, local food production, and sustainable agriculture offered a unique perspective in contrast to the other interests represented in the break-out sessions.

The Group discussion I participated in identified the following topics as research priorities:

Feeding the growing world population
Integrating Production knowledge with environmental impacts.
Effects of changing land use on Green House Gas (GHG) emissions, especially in respect to ethanol production.
Implications of bringing marginal land into production.
Biomass harvest and its effects on soil quality.
Life cycle analysis of GHG emissions for different cropping systems.
Best management practices for water use efficiency in agriculture.
Maximizing nutrient use efficiency in agriculture.
Better communication of ARS research results.
Multi-factor integration research - examine effects of multiple stressors on crop production.
Integration of current knowledge regarding global climate change and agriculture and analysis of variability of research results.
Extend and expand GRACEnet.
More emphasis on social and economic feasibility of management practices.

Key points I brought to the discussion from the perspective of Three Rivers RC&D included these research topics and issues:

Sustainable biofuel production – this includes examining effects of biomass harvest on soil carbon content, sustainable biomass harvest rates, and examining effects of crop residue removal on soil carbon content.
Nutrient Management – continuing to expand research on increasing efficiency of nutrient application, use of productive conservation crops to mitigate excess nutrients.
Landscape scale water management practices.
Practices for reducing Ag inputs for environmental and economic benefit.
Diversifying crop rotations.
Local and organic food production – this includes examining production practices, training new farmers and market development.

I also stressed the point that regardless of what practices their research show to have environmental benefits, if the practices are not economical, they will not be adopted on a scale that will offer significant benefit to reducing the effects of global climate change. Private landowners will play an essential role in the implementation of land use practices that will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and sequester atmospheric carbon in the soil.

This focus of research on the role agriculture plays on global climate change and what effects climate change will have on agriculture presents a golden opportunity for agriculture in Minnesota. There already is significant research being conducted in Minnesota in the area of sustainable biofuel production. We are uniquely poised to take advantage of out excellent university research system, Ag industry, and abundant natural resources. We can research and implement solutions to the problems presented to our natural ecosystems while generating positive economic activity.