Farmers and ranchers across the country are gearing up for a major change in the way farmers and rancher cooperatives operate in the face, among other things, of climate change.
In the next year, more than 1,000 farmers and farmers cooperative members from around the world will converge in Washington, D.C., for the inaugural Global Farmers Cooperative Conference.
The event, organized by the Cooperative Alliance for Agriculture and Rural Development (CAARED), aims to bring together top farm organizations from across the U.S. and beyond.
Cooperative members from the United States and around the globe are expected to be on hand to help shape the conference, which will also include a panel of experts and an “open house” on the topics of agriculture and agriculture cooperatives.
“We want to make sure we have the best people, and we want to have the most informed farmers and the best agricultural experts, because it is going to be a very important conference for the future of agriculture,” said Julie Dannemelk, executive director of CAARED.
While the climate change impact of climate disruption has already begun to manifest in areas from agriculture to food production, the future for the agriculture cooperative movement is not so clear-cut.
The impact of the global warming on the agriculture sector is still uncertain, but experts predict the effects will be more profound than many first expected.
In a recent study, the University of Texas at Austin School of Agriculture and Public Affairs estimated that by 2030, global CO2 emissions would account for nearly half of the total CO2 pollution.
The researchers also said that the CO2 that remains in the atmosphere will be about a fifth of the amount that was emitted in the industrial era, the early 20th century.
The effects of CO2 on crop yields and food production are not yet fully understood.
For example, CO2-dioxide levels in the soil and in the water supply have been increasing, but scientists are unsure of the full extent of this increase.
In addition, the COII in the air will continue to increase, and the impact of such increases on agricultural yields and the environment are not well understood.
As for the impact on the agricultural sector, researchers say that while the agricultural industry is already suffering from the effects of climate disruptions, the impact is far more significant.
“The future for agriculture is uncertain,” said Danneman.
“But it is not uncertain at all.
It is quite dramatic, and if we don’t start looking at these changes with the same urgency as we are now, agriculture could be completely wiped out.
There’s no question about that.”
In response to this dire outlook, CAARed is working to prepare the country for a new, warmer world by increasing funding to research, develop and implement a new breed of agricultural technologies that could significantly reduce CO2 and methane emissions in agriculture.
In 2017, the group raised $17 million from the U,S.
government, including funding from the Department of Agriculture, the U