Letter: Changing weather patterns threaten crops, forests, livestock

I’ve been invited to Congressman Dan Newhouse’s agricultural forum in Moses Lake on Nov. 6. According to the announcement on his website, it will feature presentations by the USDA Farm Service Agency, Washington State Department of Agriculture, Natural Resources Conservation Service, and the Washington State Farm Bureau.

There’ll be an opportunity for questions. I hope to have a chance to ask what Rep. Newhouse and the state agricultural community are doing to combat increasing threats to our state’s $49 billion ag industry.

We experienced record mean warm temperatures here in October through March 2014, and are on track to do so again in 2015. Due to climate change, this pattern is expected to continue, and along with it, decreasing snowpack and increasing competition for water resources between farms, fish (those that survive abnormally high water temperatures), and hydro power. Precipitation patterns are also changing. These changing weather patterns create new pathogens and pests, challenging the viability of our crops, our forests, and our livestock.

What are we doing about today’s problems, and what do we plan to do about the human activities that are changing the climate and threatening our agricultural industry and the essential products it provides?

Kennewick

This story was originally published November 2, 2015 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Letter: Changing weather patterns threaten crops, forests, livestock."