Climate Change and Food Production

The unique nature of U. S. agriculture and the role that it has played and can play in addressing climate change are many.  Specifically, our industry is proud of the role that agricultural chemicals have played in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  Through the use of agricultural herbicides, crop yields can increase by up to 20% but also enable growers to manage weeds without excessive tillage.  Such practices result in annual saving of 337 million gallons of fuel that tilling would require and prevents an estimated 356 billion pounds of disturbed soil from eroding into rivers and streams.  Conservation tillage is a solution to greenhouse gas emissions in at least three ways:  Less fossil fuels burned for tillage; Carbon sequestration increased in lower tilled soils; Greater productivity per acre of land in production.