Once again, we turn to the challenges facing farmers. We have already discussed:

1. How to increase yield per acre? 
2. How do I reduce waste and take quality to the next level?
3. What choices do we make in terms of mechanization?
4. How do I keep my costs as low as possible?

Now we will be addressing a challenge that is out of our control.  The weather.  How do we control something uncontrollable?  Well, the short answer is; We don’t!  We cannot control the weather, but while we cannot control it, we can prepare for it.  Your preparation will be different depending on your location.  You will prepare differently in a cold climate than in a tropical climate, and you will plan differently in dry areas than in wet and humid areas.  Therefore, I will try to be general and just give you some basic ways you can prepare for climate extremes and point out some critical factors in this process.  Before getting into ways farmers can adapt to climate change and extreme weather, let’s look at two essential issues you must incorporate into your processes.

1. Planning.  I have mentioned the importance of planning on many occasions and here we must rely on planning once more. Your planning must be incorporated into every project and every task.  One of the main reasons for planning is to eliminate surprises, including extreme weather. 

2. Part of the planning is the PDCA cycle (The Plan-do-check-act cycle) mentioned in our last installment on challenges. This process is very effective when you are starting a new improvement project, a new process, product, or service.  Using the PDCA cycle will allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of your actions.  In the case of mitigating the effect of weather on your agricultural activity, you evaluate the results of each and every action you have taken and add your findings to your next action plan. Let’s review the 4 steps of the PDCA cycle:

1. Plan: Recognize an opportunity and plan a change.  This should be done systematically and be part of your planning process.
2. Do: Test the change. Carry out a small-scale study.  Going all out and making a sweeping change because of a hunch may not be the best idea.  If you are wrong, it might be a costly mistake.  Therefore, doing a small test is often the better way.
3. Check: Review the test, analyze the results, and identify what you’ve learned.  Does the test answer all the questions you had?  If not, you might want to repeat the test.
4. Act: Take action based on what you learned in the study step. If the change does not work, go through the cycle again with a different plan. If you were successful, incorporate what you learned from the test into wider changes. Use what you learned to plan new improvements, beginning the cycle again.

Let us now look at some methods we can use to adapt to climate change and extreme weather events.  Some methods are:

1.  The Soil.  I have talked about soil and soil quality elsewhere.  You can look it up by scrolling down my page, and you will find the posts dated February 4, 18, and April 3^rd this year.  Healthy soil binds together and holds moisture better and, in that way, will withstand drought and excessive heat better, as well as be less prone to wash away in floods.  Healthy soil contains more nutrients and will, given the same conditions, always give a better harvest.  To improve your soil you can practice mulching, conservation tillage, cover cropping, and contour plowing, it also enhances water retention and prevents erosion.

2.  Organic practices, agroecology, and regenerative agriculture.  These practices lead to cleaner soil, water, and food. 

Organic farm practices encompass a whole system of actions on your farm, focused on chemical-free farming.  It starts with soil testing, which creates the parameters for seed selection, then goes on to organic fertilizers, and crop management such as crop rotation, intercropping, and use of cover crops.  It focused on Integrated Pest Management and Disease Prevention.  Organic Farming Practices create a buffer zone to prevent exposure to water-borne or airborne contaminants from other land uses.

Agroecology is the application of ecological concepts and principles in farming.  The most common practices are agroforestry, intercropping, or mixed cropping, the introduction of legumes in rotations, soil, and water conservation practices, like mulching, return of crop residues, zaï or Tassa holes, etc., use of animal manure, biocontrol methods to mitigate chemical pesticide use.

Regenerative agriculture is a system of farming practices, that when applied, will increase biodiversity, enrich the soil, and improve waterways and the ecosystem in general.  It results in increased yields and resilience to climate instability.

3.  Efficient water and irrigation management.  Since water shortage can pose a significant challenge to farmers, implementing water saving, storing, and water management technologies, like drip irrigation, and moisture sensors to optimize water usage, and eliminate losses and waste.

4.  Crops selection and diversification. I have mentioned the importance of using a variety of crops and implementing crop rotation that can help mitigate pest and disease risks, as well as improve soil fertility.  A diversified crop portfolio also spreads out the financial risk associated with climate-related crop failures. Farmers are always recommended to plant beans and maize at the same time. Legumes such as beans enhance the Nitrogen – supplying power of soils hence increasing the soil reserves of organic matter

5.  Agroforestry.  I’m currently running a post series on agroforestry and the benefits of trees.  Therefore, I will not go into this part here, but you can go to my posts from October 8, and October 24 to see my posts on Tree of Life – 1, and 2.

6.  Information. Knowledge sharing.  Weather information and forecasting. Since actions to be taken to minimize the risk associated with climate extremes, depends greatly on your location, it is very important to have a reliable network of information sharing.  What are the actions working for other farmers in your area, and how reliable are short, and long-term weather forecasts?

7.  Pest and disease management. As mentioned above, pest and disease control may be an increased issue due to climate change. Being proactive, and implementing Integrated Pest Management can greatly improve your preparedness for pest and disease outbreaks.

8.  Energy efficiency.  Exploring renewable energy options is a great way to reduce costs and lessen the dependency on fossil fuels.  Using solar panels or wind turbines will also allow for energy creation on location, and does not require the installation of miles of lines to reach the location of use.

This is a very short overview, and there are more things that can be listed, but hopefully, it will give you an idea of what to look for, when you are looking to mitigate climate risk.  I have mentioned many of the above items before, and you may read about them in other posts.  Also, it is important to remember during your planning process to prioritize the most important actions.  You may evaluate them in terms of the time and/or cost it will take to implement each of them.

In our next post on challenges, we will be talking about how to maintain flexibility in the face of a constantly changing world. 

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