climate Change calls for Climate Smart Farming
By Tom Farquhar
A
few months ago I overheard a Montgomery County farmer complaining about the weather. In the countryside, regardless of the weather, it won’ t be hard to find a farmer complaining about it. But this was not a garden variety complaint: his soybean crop produced half the expected yield due to persistent dry weather in August and September.
His beans were small in size, light in weight, and pods were only partly filled. Making matters worse, the national soybean harvest in 2025 set a record for yield. So the supply is strong, demand is down due to tariffs and competition from South America, and the price will likely come in a buck below the farmer’ s breakeven price.
Isn’ t it odd that the foundation of human life, our food supply, is produced by many small producers operating in a high-risk, low-margin business environment? And the risk is rising. Because the climate is changing. What’ s at stake? Our food.
Mark Twain is sometimes credited with saying“ Climate is what you expect. Weather is what you get.” While there is no evidence he actually said this, these two sentences capture an important truth: Weather is the day-to-day behavior of the atmosphere; climate is an averaging of all this behavior over long periods, even
4 plenty I spring sowing 2026