How to survive climate change in Agri-world?

Imagine you are baking a cake. It’s almost done and you can smell the aroma; it is going to be a delicious cake. While you’re away preparing the lunch table, someone increases the temperature. Your could-have-been-a-masterpiece cake is now spoilt. You’d feel sad right, not only do you lose food, your efforts burned down to nothing. This is what average farmers feel when global warming decides to bake our earth a bit too hotter. Saying the life of a farmer is hard is an understatement. The financial crisis never leaves them alone. Adding to this climate change and farmers have a feud.

How does climate change affect food production? Every year, golden wheat, like other crops, fails to reach its intended destination. It gets spoilt, either due to high temperature, heavy or no rain, or a locust’s attack. Pakistan’s geographical position magnifies the loss in crop productivity. It also increases the stress farmers have to bear. The effects of climate change translate to reduced food security, stress on the supply chain, and cause the prices to sky-rocket. 

Combating climate change’s effects might be a longer and slower process. As weather patterns tend to change, meteorological data can generate better predictions helping farmers in decision making. Some might even consider relocation or delaying harvest. Yet, these methods might not achieve the desired results. 

Modern methods can tackle the consistent failure to meet the production goals. For example, using agricultural drones for land mapping and detecting problems can help in land usage efficiency.

When it comes to production versus climate change warfare, Indoor farming has a lot of interesting potentials.

Vertical farming is a fascinating technique. As the name implies, the farming area grows in height instead of spreading in width. Instead of using just two dimensions for farming, we make use of the third one as well. Farming is done on layered shelves. The production can be increased up to ten times per square meter when compared to a regular soil farm. Of course, not all crops can be grown through vertical farming i.e. wheat or sugarcane. Tomatoes and other fruits can see exponential production increase with some initial investment. It provides complimentary protection from outdoor pests and wind and rain atrocities. The conditions are controlled with temperature regulation and LED supplies.

With smart farming, computer simulations can be used to understand the optimal conditions. Artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data analytics can make the farming environment more productive. It can lead to maximum production as the environment is mimicked. Moreover, utilizing the hydroponic agriculture style gives a way out of unproductive soil issues.

Modern problems require modern solutions. It is high time we start believing in innovation. By combating climate change and global warming to survive in the Agri-world, we can give farmers a reason to smile every time their product sets off to markets.