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As the original environmental stewards, farmers live and work on the land to support their families, livestock and communities.
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Greener land cover (farmland) contributes to cooler temperatures, concluded a study on the "Impact of land use cover on temperature trends over the continental United States." Additionally, University of Colorado, Purdue University and University of Maryland researchers found that almost any conversion of land out of agriculture leads to warmer temperatures. (For more details, visit Watts Up With That.)
A study shows that the conversion of any land to agricultural use results in cooling—even land that was previously forested. Conversion from agricultural use generally results in warming.
With worldwide concern regarding climate change/global warming, these conclusions emphasize the importance of land in agricultural production. Purdue doctoral student Souleymane Fall, the article's lead author, reported that, in general, the greener the land cover, the cooler the surface temperature. Converting land to agriculture results in cooling, while conversion from agriculture generally results in warming. As would be hypothesized, deforestation generally results in warming. However, warming does not occur when forests are shifted to agriculture. Again, as expected, urbanization and conversion to bare soils create the largest warming impacts.
Eugenia Kalnay, University of Maryland professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences and one of the study's co-authors, reported, "We found that most land use changes, especially urbanization, result in warming. A clear exception is conversion of land from other uses to agriculture, which produces relative cooling, presumably because of increased evaporation."
These conclusions suggest that strategies to create green spaces and buffer zones in and around urban areas could be tools to use in addressing climate change. While mindful of climate change, many farmers simply follow conservation best management practices because they passionately care about the environment.