CAN FARMS CUT CLIMATE POLLUTION WITHOUT ALLOWING
PEOPLE TO GROW HUNGRY
XINGYE SU
As the world continues to get warmer feeding people becomes increasingly more difficult
to do, but a 2025 study heavily implies that farmers may be able to lower climate pollution
without having to give up some of their crop production. The researchers studied a ricewheat farming system in Southwest China and found that by cutting 20% of nitrogen
fertilizer and adding mid season drainage to the rice fields would reduce green house gas
emissions drastically while still being able to maintain the rice and wheat yields. The
greenhouse gases that are being reduced are methane and nitrous oxide as they are good
at trapping heat in our atmosphere making it a lot hotter for everybody.
The main focus of this research was to figure out the common rotation system where rice is
grown first in a flooded field during the warm season and winter wheat is grown afterwards.
The problem was flooded fields is a major cause of methane, and too much fertilizer will
release nitrous oxide which leads to heat. So, to find possible solutions, Shuhui Wang and
his colleagues created a simulation model called Soil-Plant-Atmosphere Continuum
System or SPACSYS. This simulation helps create a detailed farming simulator using
information about the soil, weather, crops, fertilizer, water, and greenhouse gas emissions
to make an estimate of how the farming would behave over time.
To make sure SPACSYS worked the research team first checked to see if their model could
match real data form a long-term field experiment in Beibei, Chongqing, China. Once the
model was properly tested, they had it simulate future conditions from 2024 – 2100 under
two climate scenarios. One was a lower emission future as the other was a high emissions
future. The result showed that climate change would create serious problems for food
production. The high emissions scenario shows that rice yields could fall by 11.8-29.9%
and wheat yields could fall by 8.3-19.4%. The research also showed that as winter
becomes warmer, winter wheat was at risk of not completing their vernalization.
Vernalization means the cold period that some plants need before they can properly switch
from leafy growth to seed-producing growth.
To combat this the researchers suggested and adaptation that was especially important.
Their solution was to switch from winter wheat to spring wheat after 2070. Choosing to
switch to spring wheat was their solution to failed vernalization as spring wheat does not
need the same cold winter period. This chose is meant to avoid the projected wheat yield
loss in the high-emissions future.
Another aspect this research targeted was to reduce pollution through better farm
management. The found that even if they lowered the nitrogen fertilizer by 20% it did not
lower the yields of rice or wheat in the future scenarios. They also found that Mid-season
drainage, where rice fields are drained for part of the growing season rather than stay
continuously flooded, lowered methane emissions. The researchers found that by
connecting both techniques SPACSYS suggested a 56% drop in methane emissions and a
24% drop in nitrous oxide emissions by roughly 24%. They also found that the net global
warming potential would fall by a staggering 69% compared to no adaptation.
Of course, this study is not meant for every farm as it was based on a rice-wheat system in
southwest China. They also stated results were dependent on crop varieties, planting dates
and model limits. However, being more considerate of the fertilizer use, crop choices, and
water management, we could protect food security and our earth.
Climate Change will continue and this means eventually our agricultural methods will
become outdated, meaning eventually we will have to change. however, for quick and
visible change to happen farmers, policymakers, and scientist must come together to
make these changes happen!
APA Reference
Wang, S., Sun, N., Mu, Z., Wang, F., Shi, X., Liu, C., Zhang, S., Wellens, J., Longdoz, B.,
Meersmans, J., Colinet, G., Xu, M., & Wu, L. (2025). Strategies to reduce CH4 and N2O
emissions whilst maintaining crop yield in rice-wheat system under climate change using
SPACSYS model. Agricultural Systems, 226, 104337.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2025.104337