Conference on Mitigating Climate Change in the Arid Southwest
Author: Logan Hawkes| Published: November 2, 2016
Skeptic or not, according to a consensus of climate scientists and New Mexico agricultural officials, early indications of climate change are already apparent through variations in climate patterns that are challenging the region’s agricultural producers and may be a prelude to more substantial and widespread changes in the near future.
New Mexico State University Cooperative Extension Service agronomist John Idowu says the best way farmers and ranchers can mitigate or even survive challenges created by these changes is to better understand them and plan more efficient ways to deal with agricultural production in a more hostile environment.
“Farmers and other agricultural stakeholders need to develop agricultural systems resilient to expected changes, some of which have already begun,” Idowu said.
Climatologists and other agricultural planners agree that the cycle of droughts in the southwestern United States has increased over the past decades, supported by yet another and more recent study indicating the Southwest may have already transitioned to a drier climate that could plague producers for years to come.