Brave words, those. We can do it – if we will it! Nonetheless: In the fight against climate change, you cannot ignore Agriculture – and yet so far, we have been trying to!
(Filipino farmers planting, from Pursuit, pursuit.unimelb.edu.au)
President Marcos, in his inaugural speech, identified plastic pollution and climate change as among critical issues his administration will address.
I understand the emphasis on plastic pollution, which is very visible to everyone, but if you look at all those farmers planting rice, all over the country they are exposing whole fields to the elements, not trying to save field water, and obviously will follow up that transplanting with applications of chemical fertilizers.
As an agriculturist (UP Los Baños ’'65), I am sorry to note that neither Mr Marcos nor Mr Diokno mentions Agriculture as a major contributor to climate change – because it is!
An unnamed source says (Beyond Pesticides, beyondpesticides.org):
A 2019 IPCC report on climate and food security identifies that the food system, which includes conventional agriculture dominantly, is responsible for 25-30% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions worldwide.
Agriculture contributes up to 30% of GHGs, which return to us as climate crisis – the farmers are also responsible for their own miseries!
Now: “Farming has the power to change our planet’s future – for better or for worse” – Rodale Institute.
Rodale Institutehas this report (circa 2022, “Climate Change,” rodaleinstitute.org):
… In nearly 40 years of comparing the effects of conventional vs organic agriculture side by side, our Farming Systems Trial has found that organic systems use 45% less energy, release 40% fewer carbon emissions, improve the health and quantity of soil over time, and actually have the potential to produce yields up to 40% higher in times of drought than conventional systems.
Organic agriculture gives us healthier soils, healthier foods, higher higher yields, returns – what more do we want?!
In 1966, a new graduate of BS Agriculture from the UP College of Agriculture (now UP Los Baños), I discovered for myself at the unrestricted shelves of the library of UP Los Baños the 2 books by American gentleman farmer Edward H Faulkner– Plowman’s Folly (1943) and Soil Development (1953) – I instinctively knew that organic agriculture was the more intelligent choice over chemical agriculture. In 2007 came the explosive report of the Intergovernmental Panel for Climate Change(IPCC) that mankind was wreaking havoc on his own planet, the only one it has, via the chemicals we humans love to apply.
I remember putting into my syllabuses for Horticulture when I taught at the College of Agriculture of Xavier University in Cagayan De Oro City, the principles of organic farming. And I have never regretted it.
The finance people are waking up; what about the farm people? Asking for a friend!@517
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