CLIMATE AND FOOD: CLIMATIC FLUCTUATION AND U.S. AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTION

The degree to which present agricultural practice in the United States is vulnerable to unexpected variation in weather and climate, according to a report by a committee of the National Research Council, is cause for concern about the adequancy of future world food supplies. Agriculture is vulnerable to climate fluctuations not only because they are unforeseen but also because as yet they are unforeseeable. Reliable, long-range forecasting of weather and climate is not yet available, and present technology and management of agriculture are too inflexible to accommodate sudden, unfavorable departures from expected weather patterns. Long-term trends in climate are not as important to U.S. food production as are fluctuations or increased variability in climate over a season, a year, or several years. It is more difficult for agriculture to respond to short-term changes and increased variability than to gradual changes.

• Supplemental Notes:
  • This report is by the Committee on Climate and Weather Fluctuations and Agricultural Production, Board on Agriculture and Renewable Resources; Commission on Natural Resources, National Research Council. Notification of publication appeared in NAS News Report, Vol. 27, No. 1.
• Corporate Authors:

  National Research Council

  2101 Constitution Avenue, NW
  Washington, DC  United States  20418
• Publication Date: 1976

Media Info

• Pagination: 221 p.

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Agricultural products; Forecasting; Freight traffic; Grain; International trade; Traffic forecasting
• Uncontrolled Terms: Grain trade
• Old TRIS Terms: Agricultural traffic
• Subject Areas: Freight Transportation; Planning and Forecasting; Railroads;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 00145177
• Record Type: Publication
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Feb 16 1977 12:00AM