Farmers adapt to climate change by irrigating more: New paper

As the climate changes and rainfall becomes less reliable in many places, farmers are turning to groundwater pumping, a new paper from Harvard Kennedy School’s Charles Taylor shows.

Looking at nearly 50 years of global data, Taylor finds that irrigation expanded more in areas that became drier and also had access to groundwater. He estimates that climate-related drying may explain about 4 to 8 percent of the growth in global irrigated land from 1960 to 2005.

This climate adaptation is not automatically sustainable. More groundwater irrigation can reduce the damage from a hotter, drier climate in the short run, but drain aquifers and make soils saltier. Both threaten future food production.