I’m wondering if you have given any thought to what your farm will look like in 2030.

A reality that I have to face is I won’t be working on our farm unless the retirement age is raised to 76 by then. Another reality I have to face is the management decisions I make now and that we make as agriculture as a whole will have a direct impact on what we leave for the next generation.

Let’s assume the climatologists are correct in their modeling of the climate change we are going to see. If their predictions hold true we will see a gradual warming of the climate. Precipitation may remain similar to what we have experienced in the past, with a possible shift to more precipitation in the winter months and less during the growing season.

The result will be a net loss in available moisture to grow crops due to increased soil moisture evaporation and increased transpiration rate in plants. This will also require an increase in irrigation to offset the changes in climate.

With declining groundwater aquifer levels and more demand being placed on our surface water there is going to be less water for us to irrigate our crops. So how do we change our management practices to compensate for this change?

The first option is to do nothing and continue on as is. What will this leave us with in 2030? We’ll have more soil erosion if tillage practices continue like we’ve done in…