Marie Dorline Desir

English 1121

Prof. Penner

Citation: “Climate Change and Agriculture”. National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition Summer 2020.

http://bit.ly/farmerclimateletter.accessed17,Oct.2020

summary: Farmers and ranchers have set up a petition for people to sign to let their representatives know that they are concerned because climate change threatens agriculture in the United States. They are advocating for change and immediate action need to take place to address earth’s changing climate. Farmers and ranchers alike want to find new ways to bring the agricultural industry into the future. New farming programs need to put into place that will make farms more resilient to extreme weather events. The innovations include developing new renewable energy systems and finding ways to improve the health of the soil and air. Also shifting technology towards sustainable farming takes significant amounts of investments, financial, financial incentives and research.

Reflection: I agree with that this petition is trying to do. This petition is bringing awareness to the fact earth’s climate is changing and these changes will adversely affect agriculture. The petition states that temperatures are rising, flooding is becoming severe and periods of droughts are extended. There are new pest and crop diseases that threaten crop production. I also agree with the fact that farmers and ranchers need to be apart of climate change solution. Farmers need to take steps now to reduce their reliance on fossil fuels and they must act to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The most important point in this petition is that there must be viable solution that invest in agricultural communities.

“Our farms and ranches can also produce renewable energy in unique and important ways”. To me this statement means that farmers and ranchers admit that there is a problem. They must come up with new sustainable farming methods that are environmentally and economically sound. This is one way farmers/ranchers can help prevent climate change from destroying the agriculture industry.

One question I have about this petition is how are farmers/ranchers of color more vulnerable to climate change. The petition mentions that rural farming communities lack the resources needed to adapt to change but it doesn’t discuss the reasons why this is happening. To better understand this petition I would like more information on how farmers can find ways to improve their farming communities. This would include ways to improve our air and land qualities. The petition mentions only a few ways like having farmers use renewable energy like wind and solar power.

If I could say something to the farmers and ranchers who put this petition together, I would say that I will sign this petition. I would give my support to help express my concern about climate change and the impact it has on agriculture. This include calling for solution that invest in our agricultural industries. This document tells me that climate change adversely affects agriculture. Climate change is caused by humans and is not caused from natural events. This petition also tells me that farmers must adapt their farming practices to deal with extreme weather changes in the future. I feel the author’s intended audience is people who are activists must let their legislative representatives know how they feel about climate change and sustainable farming . Activists need to change old policies that don’t work and create new ones on a global level.

I believe this genre is effective. A petition makes sense in order to raise awareness on the issues surrounding climate change and agriculture. I counted nine “we” verbs and about four “our” verbs in this document. I feel the purpose of using “we” and “our” verbs is to bring all the farmers and ranchers together as one collective unit. It’s like they are united. I believe this petition is credible . It was written by the NSCA (National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition) which is an alliance with over 116 member groups that work collectively with NSAC’s Washington, D.C based staff to promote and enhance sustainable food and farm policy at the federal level.

Quotation: ”Our food security depend on embracing agricultural solutions to a changing climate”. (p. 4).

Citation: Held, Lisa E. ”The Real Climate Impact of Organic Farming”.

FoodPrint,18 Feb.2020.Web17.Oct.2020.

Making Sense of Food

Summary: The central idea to this blog is that as the climate crisis ”heats up” there seems to be questions regarding organic farming. Some scientists believe that organic farming could reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) and others believe that organic worse for the environment and helps to cause climate change.

The WRI report mentioned this blog says that GHG emissions are directly related to how farmers farm. This includes using fertilizers to make the soil healthy but these products also release nitrous oxide that is potential greenhouse gas. Fossil fuels are used in pesticide and in tractor fuel. Another study discussed in this blog found that farming would reduce emissions as compared to traditional farming methods when it came to crop production. But, the catch is that organic farming produces less of a harvest so more land is used for crop production. Using more land means increase in gas emissions.

The Rodale Institute shows that the crop yields or how much organic crops being produced are lower in the first few years. Over time, there is no difference in the amount of crops produced between traditional farming vs. organic farming. Also organic farming builds up the organic matter in the soil that helps farmers produce healthy crops. The blog concludes by saying that there needs to be more studies on organic farming and it’s benefits has not been fully researched.

Reflection: I agree with the text where it says that farmers are also part of the problem. The way that most farmers farm today contributes to climate change. Farmers use techniques that pump carbon dioxide nitrous oxide and methane into the atmosphere. In order for me to make up my mind as to weather or not organic farming contributes to climate change or that it is a better way to farm I would need to read more articles on the topic. This way I can be an informed individual and make up my own mind. The problem is that even scientists are undecided as to what the benefits of organic farming are.

One question I have about what the text is saying is, what exactly is organic farming? “That reputation is mainly attributed to the fact that organic food is produced without the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides (despite the fact that it’s much more than that for dedicated organic farmers), which can damage ecosystems and be harmful to human health at certain levels”. I learned that organic farming means that farmers don’t use pesticides. I want to know what does the line ”that it’s the much more than that for organic farmers” means. I do know when I go to the grocery store organic fruits and vegetables are more expensive. I am also interested in asking the author what do the majority of farmers think about organic farming. Would it be easy for our farmers to change the way they farm and move towards organic agriculture?

To better understand this article, I am interested in knowing what a footprint is because this article is written in a Foodprint blog. I actually looked this up online and found that the purpose of a food print is to make sure that food is produced in a fair and clean way. A foodprint is an educational organization that brings awareness to how your food gets from the farm to your table. If I could say something to this author, I would ask her how can I as a consumer lower my foodprint? Is it worth the money buying organic groceries to help the environment even though organic means higher consumer cost?

This document tells me that climate change affects the agriculture industry. Farmers are aware that harmful chemicals (the product of farming) are being emitted into the atmosphere. These chemicals are responsible for global warming which in turn causes various crops to be ruined. I like the author’s writing style. Her writing was easy to understand. I didn’t have to reread the article so many times like I did when I read Wollstonecraft’s letter. The author didn’t write this blog using a persuasive style like Douglass. She didn’t include any passage about God, didn’t put herself down, and didn’t include poetry. She gave us facts and details. This genre is effective and it makes sense for what the author wanted to accomplish.

I believe the author’s intended audience is the consumer. I learned that we have the power to make changes in our lives by doing our share to help end climate change. We could make it a point to only buy organic foods. Then farmers would get the message that they need to change how they farm to protect the earth and help end climate change. I don’t know anything about the author of this blog except she is a reporter, a writer and an editor. She is not a professor or scientist. Maybe she can study the effects of organic farming on our environment but I believe she is writing this article because cares 100% about our planet.

Quotation: “The practices invented in organic are not the only ones that are going to be necessary to deal with the full spectrum of climate impact when it comes to agriculture, but they are central,” ( no page).