Pottinger, Lorri. “California Agriculture in 2050: Still Feeding People, Maybe Fewer Acres and Cows.” Public Policy Institute of California, 18 Feb. 2020, www.ppic.org/blog/california-agriculture-in-2050-still-feeding-people-maybe-fewer-acres-and-cows/. 

In Lori Pottingers, “California Agriculture in 2050: Still Feeding People, Maybe Fewer Acres and Cows.” and published by the Public Policy Institute of California, Pottinger talks about California’s effort to lower its agricultural carbon footprint. In the article shwe interviews Dan Sumner, the director of UC Davis Agricultural Issues Research Director and board member of the PPIC water policy center research network who is researching Californian agriculture and how he wants it to change by the year 2050. He also talks about how farmers will adapt to the rising temperatures and climate change to make up for production and loss of land use.

This article is very interesting in the fact that it tals about the future of agriculture in California without really talking abou the present. The interviewee, Dan Sumners is very well versed in the aspects of climate change affecting agriculture and explains how the rising climate will have to be met with not just more research but also adaptation from the farmers. I think the belief that farmers will have to make a change in order to preserve the environment will be a deciding factor in the year 2050 if we really want to change the outcome of climate changes affecting agriculture. In all this idea of future adaptation could bring a huge change with less land but still food being produced will stabalize the inflation of crops while still saving the environment.

Pollack, Nicole. “For Some California Farmers, a Virus-Driven Drop in Emissions Could Set Back Their Climate Efforts.” Inside Climate News, 7 Dec. 2020, insideclimatenews.org/news/26062020/california-farmers-coronavirus-emissions-climate-change/. 

In Nicole Pollacks article, “For Some California Farmers, a Virus-Driven Drop in Emissions Could Set Back Their Climate Efforts.” Published by Insider Climate news. In the article she explains how California’s “cap and trade” program will have a lack of funding do to lack of carbon emission taxes from the recent covid pandemic. The reason how this relates to agriculture is the funding to go to these research programs only heightens the risk of future climate change that is then directly impacting the produce and health of agriculture in California. This lack of money could also endanger the farmers’ subsidization forcing them to go back to perennial or traditional farming practices.

I think that the lack of money to go to the researchers is a detriment to the overall effort of reducing California’s agricultural carbon footprint, but I think that they are not giving enough money to the people that they directly affect. The lack of petroleum use during the pandemic has hindered the research programs from making any further progress while the farmers continue to provide for themselves and others with little help from the government, the people by their food from this farmers but they get little in return for how much work they put into their product which in turn creates more carbon emissions while the money goes to researchers. I think the way the money would make the most change is if it was given to farmers to free up and subsidize their land to the government so there is less room for carbon emissions while they are still receiving money to take care of themselves. In all, I think that putting that much money into research instead of giving it directly to the source is detrimental to California’s climate change efforts.

info@sustainablefoodtrust.org, Sustainable Food Trust -. “Farming as the Climate Changes: Straus Family Creamery, Marshall, California.” Sustainable Food Trust, 3 Dec. 2020,sustainablefoodtrust.org/articles/farming-as-the-climate-changes-straus-family-creamery-marshall-california/. 

In an article by Sustainable Food Trust, the writer talks about how the challenge of climate change is affecting farmers, but the Straus Family Creamery in Marshall, California has found a new way to mitigate the carbon emissions from their farm. The article interviews the CEO and founder of Straus Family Farms, Albert Straus who has been running the dairy farm for about a year since November twenty-seventh. They also have been awarded the TRUE Zero waste emissions award by diverting 1 million in waste, powered by 100% zero carbon and with bottled reusable bottles for their product. With all these accomplishments they claim to be carbon neutral by 2022.

I think this article shows a lot of accomplishments from a farm that is able to make money from the product, but not have access waste. In the article they mentioned they wanted to be an example for other farms in the future and to have a smaller footprint while still making a profit. I think that the methods they have been using are a very good way to preserve the farming economy and still feed people without having excess or lost yields of produce. The main reason I think that Straus Farms is able to accomplish these things is because they are able to find ways to cancel out their waste instead of always preserving it. This model of farming could be used around the US but most government money goes to researchers instead of actual farms to make this change, and with the right money I think we could change the way farmers cultivate their land and benefit California’s agriculture. 

“California Crops Under Climate Change.” California Crops Under Climate Change | USDA Climate Hubs, US Department of Agriculture, 2021, www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/california/california-crops-under-climate-change

This article written by the United States Department of Agriculture was a summary of the agricultural practices used in California. They describe the trends in agriculture as it relates to climate change. It also discussed a cap trade program with farmers and how they plan to subsidize farmers for land. Also, they expressed the challenge of the tasks and their plans for the future. 

I agree with the practices that California is using to establish a good economy with its large agricultural presens in the US. However, the carbon emissions coming from California put a huge way on the ozone layer and disrupts the growth of plants that can not adapt to the rising climate fast enough. These practices used by California are often perennial which means more modern anc carbon heavy practices which in return create a positive feedback loop of carbon then adding on to and wasting yields of crops. Ultimately, I think that California needs to change its ways of agriculture if we really want to change the outcome of our carbon emission footprint.

 McGrath, Justin. “Climate, Pollution and California’s Crops.” Nature News, Nature Publishing Group, 16 Mar. 2020, www.nature.com/articles/s43016-020-0052-7. 

In the article “Climate, Pollution and California’s Crops” written by Justin McGrath, he talks about the historical impact on the ozone and climate change due to California’s perennial crops. First he addresses the slowing of plant adaptation in Tropospheric or tropical like environments due to carbon release in perennial or traditional farming methods that produce heavy carbon. Also, McGrath mentions the loss in Tropospheric yields due to lack of adoption in plants because of increasing temperature in these environments. These crop losses would only be battled by reducing Ozone damage which authors believe would cost 1 billion dollars. McGrath believes that these efforts will only be stopped with mass effort and can only be saved by limiting more damage to the atmosphere.

The facts in this article as well as McGraths opinions are very valid and hold a lot of truth. However these efforts to battle the environment change would not just require effort through money but also the farmers. The Californian government relies heavily on taxpayer money to go towards these funds, but fails to make direct change to the farmers. I do not agree with California’s efforts because they are trying to find people to solve the problem instead of doing it themselves. Subsidization to the farmers would drastically change the outcome of agricultural carbon emissions in California.

In Beans, C. (2020, September 18). How does a crop’s environment shape a food’s smell and taste? Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.sciencenews.org/article/terroir-food-crops-environment-smell-taste a article was written by Carolyn Beans which describes a couple of experiences and some background on how an environment can change the smell and taste of the crops grown there in How this applies to the environment, however, is the impact that the plants have grown in a particular area also seem to form the land to fit its needs, for example, when someone paves around a young oak tree and years later the pavement is lifted and cracked because of the roots, but if the oak tree was paved over it would probably never have grown. Showing that an environment does not only affect the traits of the crop but also the crop forms the land to fit its needs creating a coercive relationship that will either be beneficial or detrimental to the environment now and in the future.

In an article written by Kaia Hubbard Hubbard, K. (2020). Oregon Farmers Face Dual Struggles With Pandemic, Wildfires. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.usnews.com/news/best-states/articles/2020-09-18/oregon-farmers-face-dual-struggles-with-pandemic-wildfires. She talks about how the wildfires in Oregon are affecting agriculture seen in  these wildfires that scorch the land, decimate many crops and land used for livestock and destroy lives, vegetation and create a massive amount of carbon dioxide that is released into the atmosphere. The tolls in the perspective of environmental health bedsides the CO2 that is released into the atmosphere is the soil and topsoil that is scorched and becomes somewhat useless until something is replanted causing farmland that was used at least for agricultural purposes now becomes useless. In all, the impact of wildfires is devastating to the land but in the end, gives a reset to the soil and if not destroyed allows more possibilities for that land. 

Environments impact on agriculture

In Galbraith, G. (2020, November 15). Without a test, hay is just hay. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.agupdate.com/illinoisfarmertoday/news/livestock/without-a-test-hay-is-just-hay/article_0a300624-2453-11eb-b53d-535be1ae7d0c.html

It shows that as we know many species of plants and animals in agriculture are only valued if they serve a purpose. In an article written by Greg Galbraith, he discusses in  how there is a large dependence on the performance of hay which is a very independent variable when it comes to income, and how many bales of hay will not pass the quality test and be left to the side of the field to sluff off, and waste not just hours of labor, buy land and water. These bails that fail to meet the par and wasteland and water that creates a toll that overtime weakens that habitat and that environment and over time destroys the environment and future potential it had for anything besides farming.

In Rising temps will disproportionately affect Kansas farmers. (2020, October 24). Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://apnews.com/article/business-wichita-kansas-agriculture-92d6c4740c348121596496b9825452fe a recent study from Kansas State University, the growth of Soy Beans and Corn in the State of Kansas will get increasingly more challenging because of the severity of climate change and how the increase in temperature will cause this change in corn and soybean production in Kansas in  Usually when we think about the severity of climate change we think of the melting of the polar ice caps, the world getting hotter or things that seem not so close to home, but as people who do not live in an agricultural based community, we usually would not think about how this would affect farmers in places like Kansas. Although, a decrease in corn production would be devastating to many populations as well as the economy the land that would be lost because it would be unkempt for agricultural purposes because they cant keep land they don’t profit from will soon turn into useless land due to years of abuse, pesticides, fertilizer followed by a sudden stop would devastate countless acres of land ultimately destroying potential habitats and environments.

In Jacobs, A. (2020, September 24). Emails Show How Pesticide Industry Influenced U.S. Position in Health Talks. Retrieved December 02, 2020, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/24/health/pesticides-drug-resistance-trump-anifungals.html an article that was written by New York Times, Andrew Jacobs talks about the use of pesticides and the health effects it has on the U.S. and how the government decides to protect the use of pesticides because of the benefit it provides to essential crops in the US economy. This affects the environment of the United States not just because pesticide affects the health of US citizens and the food we consume, but it affects the health of the soil that then sees into the ground weakening the topsoil making it almost impossible for smaller organisms to live there or the land to be repurposed. Also, the water going onto the fields picks up the pesticides and could be evaporated into the atmosphere and could be released anywhere weakening habitat and water health all over the nation.