In the San Luis Valley, Brendon Rockey co-owns Rockey Farms with his brother Sheldon Rockey. It’s a third generation farm, and one that has seen a lot of change over the years. They used to grow potatoes and barley but took out the barley to conserve water. Now, it’s a potato farm, but that’s not the only plant the Rockeys grow. To conserve water and avoid soil erosion, the Rockeys plant ground cover crops, 16 species to be exact. That way when a freeze hits like it did this January, they only lose some of the cover crop. It’s practices like this that allow Rockey Farm to be more resilient in the face of inclement weather.
The practices they use are more sustainable than traditional farming practices and are recommended by climate researchers and government agencies to subvert the effects of climate change. But, Brendon said that scientists’ advice isn’t necessarily going to push farmers like him to change their practices. “I’ve learned more from other farmers than any other group, and when a researcher gets in front of a group of farmers, and even if their message is identical to what I’m saying, farmers have a hard time hearing that message from somebody who’s not farming themselves because it seems more theoretical,” Brendon said. “But when you get a farmer in front of another group of farmers saying ‘here are the fundamentals and they work because I’m doing them,’ I think that’s when you get the most change.”
Agricultural practices around the world have to change to combat climate change, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report released Thursday. This report found that climate change is already impacting people and ecosystems on land, including flooding, drought, wildfires and extreme heat. Meanwhile, changes to land — such as agriculture, deforestation and urban development — are creating a cycle of climate change. The more the climate changes, the land is affected. And the more than the land changes, the more climate is affected. Researchers say that cycle could result in the planet passing an irreversible tipping point. To view the full article visit Colorado Public Radio.