Climate Change and Agriculture:
How to Adapt to New Agronomic Challenges
1. Climate and Agriculture: An Inseparable Relationship
The climate-agriculture binomial is inseparable. Every agricultural practice is born from a landscape, and that landscape is shaped by the climate. If, as is often said, a region’s cuisine is its geography served on a plate, we could assert that its agriculture is the direct reflection of the environment: temperatures, rainfall, humidity, hours of sunlight, combined with physical factors such as soil quality, altitude, or slope.
For centuries, this balance between climate and agriculture has defined what is grown, how it is grown, and with what results. However, today that balance is being disrupted by a new variable that challenges our certainties: climate change. If the climate changes, the landscape changes, and with it, the crops and the entire agricultural model.
This blog invites you to reflect on this unprecedented transformation. Our goal is not only to analyze the current challenges but also to highlight adaptation opportunities and solutions that are already available. Because the great challenge is not simply to produce more and better, but to do so while caring for the planet, ensuring accessible food, and ensuring profitability for those who cultivate the land.
Throughout this text, we will address the main climatic and edaphic factors that condition agricultural production, the impact of climate change on crops, adaptation strategies, and the role that biocontrol can play in this new paradigm.
2. Advances of the 20th Century and the New Climate Challenge
During the 20th century, agriculture made significant progress thanks to the reduction of uncertainty factors that historically limited production. The genetic selection of seeds, the use of synthetic fertilizers, the development of phytosanitary products, and mechanization allowed for precise control over previously uncontrollable aspects, increasing crop efficiency and yield.
However, there is one factor that still escapes human control: the climate.
Agricultural work has always been linked to weather uncertainty. Farmers, the true protagonists of the field, have learned to live with better and worse years depending on climatic conditions. However, in recent decades, climate change has introduced a new dimension of unpredictability: greater variability in rainfall, extreme heat or cold events, intense droughts, torrential rains, violent hailstorms, etc.
These phenomena not only complicate agronomic planning but also force us to reconsider which crops make sense in certain regions. Even those that have been characteristic of an area for generations may cease to be viable if the climatic environment drastically changes.
At a time when efficiency, precision, and profitability are key pillars for the economic sustainability of the agricultural sector, this new instability poses unprecedented challenges.
The increase in global average temperature, changes in rainfall cycles, and the growing frequency of extreme phenomena are having direct effects on crops.
Below, we detail some of the most relevant ones:
| Fenómeno climático | Descripción | Impacto en la agricultura |
|---|---|---|
| Aumento de temperatura | Incremento de la temperatura media anual y episodios extremos. | Estrés térmico en las plantas, menos rendimiento, floración alterada, maduración acelerada. |
| Sequías prolongadas | Períodos extensos sin precipitaciones suficientes. | Disminución de la disponibilidad hídrica, estrés hídrico, salinización del suelo. |
| Lluvias intensas | Precipitaciones muy fuertes concentradas en poco tiempo. | Erosión del suelo, pérdida de nutrientes, anegamiento, mayor incidencia de hongos. |
| Pedrisco violento | Episodios frecuentes de caída de granizo de gran tamaño. | Daños físicos en los cultivos, heridas que actúan como puerta de entrada a infecciones. |
3. Visible Impacts: Crops in Crisis and Extreme Phenomena
The impacts of climate change on agriculture are no longer a future forecast: they are happening today. Numerous crops, essential for global and local food production, are seeing their viability compromised in various regions of the world.
Some significant examples:
Cocoa
Coffee:
Rice
Mediterranean Vine
These examples highlight that climate change is not a uniform phenomenon but presents multiple territorial expressions that require responses adapted to each agricultural context.
4. The Dual Role of Agriculture: Victim and Emissions Source
In addition to being affected, agriculture also contributes to climate change. According to recent data, agricultural activity, along with forestry and land-use change (AFOLU, for its acronym in English), accounts for approximately 18% of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
Understanding the origin of these emissions is fundamental to designing effective mitigation strategies.
| Fuente de emisión | Descripción | GEI principal |
|---|---|---|
| Fermentación entérica | Digestión de rumiantes como vacas y ovejas. | CH₄ (metano) |
| Fertilizantes sintéticos | Emisión de óxidos de nitrógeno por el exceso de nitrógeno en el suelo. | N₂O (óxido nitroso) |
| Cambio de uso del suelo | Tala de bosques para convertirlos en tierras agrícolas o pastos. | CO₂ (dióxido de carbono) |
| Maquinaria y combustibles | Uso intensivo de maquinaria agrícola alimentada con combustibles fósiles. | CO₂ |
Table 3. Main Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Agriculture
To ensure future food production, agriculture must transform. The goal is to maintain productivity, ensure the economic viability of farms, and reduce their environmental impact at the same time. Several strategic lines have already been identified as effective:
| Estrategia | Objetivo | Beneficio adicional |
|---|---|---|
| Agricultura regenerativa | Mejorar la salud del suelo y capturar carbono. | Mayor fertilidad, estructura y retención de agua. |
| Reducción de fertilizantes químicos | Evitar el exceso de nitrógeno y las emisiones de N₂O. | Ahorro económico, menor contaminación de acuíferos. |
| Uso de biocontrol y bioproductos | Sustituir productos químicos por microorganismos beneficiosos. | Mayor biodiversidad, control natural de plagas y enfermedades. |
| Energías renovables en finca | Reemplazar gasoil por energía solar, eólica o biomasa. | Autonomía energética, reducción de huella de carbono. |
| Agricultura de precisión | Aplicar agua y nutrientes solo donde y cuando se necesiten. | Eficiencia en el uso de recursos y mejora de los rendimientos. |
Table 4. Key Strategies for Climate-Responsible Agriculture
5. Political Transition and Real Solutions: Between the Green Deal and the Field
The balance between food production at affordable prices, environmental sustainability, and agricultural profitability is at the center of the current debate. In this context, recent farmer mobilizations across Europe reflect the tensions generated by this transition, especially in relation to the European Green Deal and the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
The European Green Deal is an ambitious and necessary commitment to achieve climate neutrality in the European Union by 2050. Within this framework, agriculture plays a central role. The ‘Farm to Fork’ strategy proposes a profound transformation of the European agri-food system, with objectives such as:
– Achieving 25% of agricultural land certified as organic.
– Reducing the use of chemical plant protection products by 50% before 2030.
These goals, although aimed at a more sustainable model, have generated controversy in parts of the agricultural sector. Some agricultural organizations, unions, and producers argue that these measures reduce the competitiveness of European agriculture, increase costs, and make it more difficult to maintain traditional crops.
Since 1991, the European Union has been removing many chemical active substances from the market for being harmful to human health or the environment. This withdrawal has been interpreted by many farmers as a direct threat to their productive model, especially due to the lack of effective authorized alternatives.
A paradigmatic example is the biofungicide T34 Biocontrol®, formulated from Trichoderma asperellum strain T34. Although the active material was approved in 2013 after four years of evaluation, obtaining authorization for T34 Biocontrol® in France for the control of Phytophthora spp. in strawberry is requiring two additional years of paperwork and is still ongoing.
This bureaucratic delay occurs in a context where many chemical plant protection products used in potatoes are being reduced or banned, leaving farmers with no effective and sustainable options. Moreover, it is common for the legal deadlines for evaluating new products to be systematically violated.
Beyond opposing change, the sector’s demands should focus on demanding greater agility from governments and the European Commission in the processes of evaluating and authorizing biocontrol products. These products, based on natural microorganisms with low or no environmental impact, are key to maintaining productivity and protecting human and environmental health.
6. A Professional and Sustainable Agriculture: The Model Europe Needs
One of the most repeated arguments against the expansion of organic farming is its lower yield compared to conventional farming. Although this difference exists in some crops, especially cereals, it is often a partial and out-of-context comparison.
On one hand, current organic farming has a very limited catalog of authorized products, both fertilizers and phytosanitary products. On the other hand, the conventional system employs intensive technologies and resources that, although effective in the short term, have a high environmental cost.
With the development of biocontrol tools, biostimulants, and precision technologies, it is possible to close this productivity gap. In fact, numerous trials and products registered in countries such as the United States show that a farming system based on biological principles is not only viable but can be more profitable and resilient if farmers have the right tools.
The debate on sustainability also affects the farming model. In Europe, three main types of farms coexist:
1. Small farms whose livelihood comes primarily from rural tourism or complementary activities. Food production is secondary.
2. Small or medium-sized, technologically advanced farms, whose main activity is professional and competitive agriculture.
3. Large agro-industrial farms, often vertically integrated into groups that control everything from production to marketing.
Each model serves distinct functions. But if the goal is to ensure healthy, sustainable, and affordable food, settle rural populations, and foster innovation, the focus should be on the second group: medium-sized professional farms, capable of adapting, investing, and applying good agricultural practices without relying on subsidies or investment funds.
7. Conclusion: Sustainable Agriculture is Possible (and Urgent)
Climate change forces us to reconsider agricultural production as we know it. This reconsideration cannot be postponed. It requires combining technological innovation (smart irrigation systems, precision agriculture, plant covers, use of beneficial microorganisms) with a political framework that facilitates access to new sustainable solutions.
Instead of blocking change, public administrations must align with the ecological transition of agriculture. This includes:
- Speeding up the approval of effective and safe biocontrol products.
- Investing in technical training to help farmers adopt these new tools.
- Ensuring agricultural profitability by protecting those who produce responsibly and sustainably.
If you are a farmer, technician, or distributor:
Now is the time to lead the change.
At Biocontrol Technologies, we believe that the future of agriculture lies in solutions that respect the environment and ensure the viability of farming. We advocate for agriculture based on knowledge, science, and innovation.
Contact us, learn about our biocontrol solutions, and join the movement toward efficient, safe, and climate-responsible agriculture.
