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From speaking with several farmers in different regions of the US - having unplanned weather extremes has caused loss of many crops and the loss is growing ever

From speaking with several farmers in different regions of the US - having unplanned weather extremes has caused loss of many crops and the loss is growing every year. If there wasnt so much development effort spent on making gmo seeds that can withstand more extreme climate conditions we would be at a much worse place. We would literally be without some major crops. Sadly the major brunt of such a disaster would affect farmers in regions of the US that believes the least in fighting against climate change

saurik 5y ago
> Sadly the major brunt of such a disaster would affect farmers in regions of the US that believes the least in fighting against climate change While having anyone affected is sad, if we are going to qualify the sadness, isn't this the least sad outcome? I would be much more sad if the farmers in regions that cared the most about fighting against climate change were the ones first affected.
- HWR_14 5y ago
  I think the "sadly" there is supposed to be the other way around. That is supposed to be "sadly, the farmers affected believe the least in fighting climate change."
- vegetablepotpie 5y ago
  I’m sorry, what? I feel like that’s a normal human thing to say. People usually say it’s sad when people are affected by bad things, and don’t put a great deal of thought into every implication of how they phrase things. I don’t know, maybe you’re more a fan of karmic justice than of sad irony.
  - bcrosby95 5y ago
    Climate change increasingly affecting people denying climate change makes it more likely they will one day accept it. I don't know how true that is, but that's my view on this particular line of thought.
    - loopz 5y ago
      Karma is believed to work across lifetimes. Without it we'd not be free to make mistakes. So is more about reincarnation, and not about revenge, justice systems or retribution. Misguided belief in karma may wither away at sense of necessary fairness (dharma), which is also karma.
- mc32 5y ago
  Except that affects everyone who depends on wheat.
SkyMarshal 5y ago
>Sadly the major brunt of such a disaster would affect farmers in regions of the US that believes the least in fighting against climate change Hopefully it will cause them to reconsider their position on climate change.
- jfengel 5y ago
  I can't imagine why it would. "Droughts have always happened, and this is just bad luck. Climate always changes. Climate change is a hoax designed to put family farms out of business and make us get all of our food from China." If they've made it this far denying science, I don't see any reason why this would change anything. It's not as if a shift in climate change stance would reduce droughts this year or his decade.
SavantIdiot 5y ago
I don't think GMO crops can survive droughts: they still need water.
- doikor 5y ago
  There are drought resistant crop varieties (both GMO and non GMO kind). Problem is that the drought resistant ones usually have lower yield and farmers in general prefer prefer higher yield kind. The GMO ones usually manage to keep the yield high while achieving good drought resistance. But yes when the drought is severe enough it will kill any crop no matter what species or variety. Though usually drought does not result in total crop loss but lower yield. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/march/drought-tolerant-corn-in-the-united-states-research-commercialization-and-related-crop-production-practices/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/march/drought-tole... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651533/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651533/
asdff 5y ago
Politics luckily go out the window when it means yields. Many crops in the US today are planted with genetically modified seeds. For crops like corn, soy, cotton, and others, over 90% of the acreage in the US is genetically modified. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/charts-of-note/?topicId=a2d1ab41-13b3-48b5-8451-688d73507ff4 https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/charts...

saurik 5y ago

> Sadly the major brunt of such a disaster would affect farmers in regions of the US that believes the least in fighting against climate change While having anyone affected is sad, if we are going to qualify the sadness, isn't this the least sad outcome? I would be much more sad if the farmers in regions that cared the most about fighting against climate change were the ones first affected.

HWR_14 5y ago
I think the "sadly" there is supposed to be the other way around. That is supposed to be "sadly, the farmers affected believe the least in fighting climate change."
vegetablepotpie 5y ago
I’m sorry, what? I feel like that’s a normal human thing to say. People usually say it’s sad when people are affected by bad things, and don’t put a great deal of thought into every implication of how they phrase things. I don’t know, maybe you’re more a fan of karmic justice than of sad irony.
- bcrosby95 5y ago
  Climate change increasingly affecting people denying climate change makes it more likely they will one day accept it. I don't know how true that is, but that's my view on this particular line of thought.
  - loopz 5y ago
    Karma is believed to work across lifetimes. Without it we'd not be free to make mistakes. So is more about reincarnation, and not about revenge, justice systems or retribution. Misguided belief in karma may wither away at sense of necessary fairness (dharma), which is also karma.
mc32 5y ago
Except that affects everyone who depends on wheat.

SkyMarshal 5y ago

>Sadly the major brunt of such a disaster would affect farmers in regions of the US that believes the least in fighting against climate change Hopefully it will cause them to reconsider their position on climate change.

jfengel 5y ago
I can't imagine why it would. "Droughts have always happened, and this is just bad luck. Climate always changes. Climate change is a hoax designed to put family farms out of business and make us get all of our food from China." If they've made it this far denying science, I don't see any reason why this would change anything. It's not as if a shift in climate change stance would reduce droughts this year or his decade.

SavantIdiot 5y ago

I don't think GMO crops can survive droughts: they still need water.

doikor 5y ago
There are drought resistant crop varieties (both GMO and non GMO kind). Problem is that the drought resistant ones usually have lower yield and farmers in general prefer prefer higher yield kind. The GMO ones usually manage to keep the yield high while achieving good drought resistance. But yes when the drought is severe enough it will kill any crop no matter what species or variety. Though usually drought does not result in total crop loss but lower yield. https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/march/drought-tolerant-corn-in-the-united-states-research-commercialization-and-related-crop-production-practices/ https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2019/march/drought-tole... https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651533/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6651533/

asdff 5y ago

Politics luckily go out the window when it means yields. Many crops in the US today are planted with genetically modified seeds. For crops like corn, soy, cotton, and others, over 90% of the acreage in the US is genetically modified. https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/charts-of-note/?topicId=a2d1ab41-13b3-48b5-8451-688d73507ff4 https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/charts...