Climate change exacerbates the environmental impacts of agriculture

Yi Yang^{1

2

3}, David Tilman^{4

5}, Zhenong Jin⁶, Pete Smith⁷, Christopher B Barrett⁸, Yong-Guan Zhu^{9

10}, Jennifer Burney^{11

12}, Paolo D'Odorico¹³, Peter Fantke^{14

15}, Joe Fargione¹⁶, Jacques C Finlay^{4

17}, Maria Cristina Rulli¹⁸, Lindsey Sloat¹⁹, Kees Jan van Groenigen²⁰, Paul C West^{21

22}, Lewis Ziska²³, Anna M Michalak^{24

25

26}; Clim-Ag Team; David B Lobell²⁷, Michael Clark¹, Jed Colquhoun², Teevrat Garg³, Karen A Garrett⁴, Camilla Geels⁵, Rebecca R Hernandez⁶, Mario Herrero⁷, William D Hutchison⁸, Meha Jain⁹, Jacob M Jungers¹⁰, Beibei Liu¹¹, Nathaniel D Mueller¹², Ariel Ortiz-Bobea¹³, Jacob Schewe¹⁴, Jie Song¹⁵, Julie Verheyen¹⁶, Peter Vitousek¹⁷, Yoshihide Wada¹⁸, Longlong Xia¹⁹, Xin Zhang²⁰, Minghao Zhuang²¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, PR China.
² The National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings (Ministry of Science and Technology), Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China.
³ The Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Buildings and Built Environments (Ministry of Education), Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China.
⁴ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁵ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
⁶ Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁷ Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, Scotland.
⁸ CH Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, JE Brooks School of Public Policy, and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
¹¹ School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
¹² Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92037 USA.
¹³ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹⁴ substitute ApS, Graaspurvevej 55, 2400 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁵ Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
¹⁶ The Nature Conservancy, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
¹⁷ St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota, MN 55414, USA.
¹⁸ Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
¹⁹ World Resources Institute, Washington, DC 20002, USA.
²⁰ Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK.
²¹ Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
²² Project Drawdown, St. Paul, MN 55101, USA.
²³ Environmental Health Science, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
²⁴ Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, CA 94305, USA.
²⁵ Department of Earth System Science, and Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
²⁶ Google Research, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
²⁷ Department of Earth System Science and Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

PMID: 39236181
DOI: 10.1126/science.adn3747

Review

Climate change exacerbates the environmental impacts of agriculture

Yi Yang et al. Science. 2024.

. 2024 Sep 6;385(6713):eadn3747.

doi: 10.1126/science.adn3747. Epub 2024 Sep 6.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region's Eco-Environment, Ministry of Education, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, PR China.
² The National Centre for International Research of Low-carbon and Green Buildings (Ministry of Science and Technology), Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China.
³ The Joint International Research Laboratory of Green Buildings and Built Environments (Ministry of Education), Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, PR China.
⁴ Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Behavior, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁵ Bren School of Environmental Science and Management, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA 93106, USA.
⁶ Department of Bioproducts and Biosystems Engineering, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
⁷ Institute of Biological and Environmental Sciences, University of Aberdeen, Aberdeen AB24 3UU, Scotland.
⁸ CH Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, JE Brooks School of Public Policy, and Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14850, USA.
⁹ Key Laboratory of Urban Environment and Health, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China.
¹⁰ State Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.
¹¹ School of Global Policy and Strategy, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, CA 92093, USA.
¹² Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla CA 92037 USA.
¹³ Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
¹⁴ substitute ApS, Graaspurvevej 55, 2400 Copenhagen, Denmark.
¹⁵ Quantitative Sustainability Assessment, Department of Environmental and Resource Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark.
¹⁶ The Nature Conservancy, Minneapolis, MN 55415, USA.
¹⁷ St. Anthony Falls Laboratory, Dept. of Civil, Environmental, and Geo-Engineering, University of Minnesota, MN 55414, USA.
¹⁸ Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milano, Italy.
¹⁹ World Resources Institute, Washington, DC 20002, USA.
²⁰ Department of Geography, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4RJ, UK.
²¹ Department of Applied Economics, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, MN 55108, USA.
²² Project Drawdown, St. Paul, MN 55101, USA.
²³ Environmental Health Science, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USA.
²⁴ Department of Global Ecology, Carnegie Institution for Science, Stanford, California, CA 94305, USA.
²⁵ Department of Earth System Science, and Department of Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.
²⁶ Google Research, Mountain View, CA 94043, USA.
²⁷ Department of Earth System Science and Center on Food Security and the Environment, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

PMID: 39236181
DOI: 10.1126/science.adn3747

Abstract

Agriculture's global environmental impacts are widely expected to continue expanding, driven by population and economic growth and dietary changes. This Review highlights climate change as an additional amplifier of agriculture's environmental impacts, by reducing agricultural productivity, reducing the efficacy of agrochemicals, increasing soil erosion, accelerating the growth and expanding the range of crop diseases and pests, and increasing land clearing. We identify multiple pathways through which climate change intensifies agricultural greenhouse gas emissions, creating a potentially powerful climate change-reinforcing feedback loop. The challenges raised by climate change underscore the urgent need to transition to sustainable, climate-resilient agricultural systems. This requires investments that both accelerate adoption of proven solutions that provide multiple benefits, and that discover and scale new beneficial processes and food products.

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Climate change exacerbates the environmental impacts of agriculture

Affiliations

Climate change exacerbates the environmental impacts of agriculture

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Affiliations

Abstract

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Medical