Dissertation
Food for thought: agricultural production in the Columbia River basin under global change.
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
01/2016
Handle:
https://hdl.handle.net/2376/117199
Abstract
An increasing global population is expected to double agricultural production demand by the 2050s, resulting in a food security challenge. Water being a primary driver of food production via irrigation, the food security challenge is closely coupled with a water security challenge. Climate change impacts both agricultural production and water resources. Its impacts on potential crop yields, water availability for agriculture (and other competing needs), irrigation water shortages, and the impacts of shortages on agricultural production, will all play a central role in shaping our response to the global food security challenge.
Although these are global issues, the impacts are felt at regional/local scales and adaptation alternatives to address these impacts are also implemented at regional/local scales. Therefore, regional-scale models provide the necessary scale appropriate framework to inform decision making. This dissertation focuses on regional scale modeling to characterize the impacts climate change on agricultural production in the Columbia River basin of the Pacific Northwest United States. Agriculture is a vital part of the region’s economy and much of the production is irrigated agriculture. The diversity in crop mix, importance of agriculture to the regional economy, heavy human management of the river system, limited storage that is sensitive to warming, and prevalent vulnerability to water shortages, collectively make the Columbia River basin an ideal test bed for modeling, from an agricultural systems and water resources perspective in the context of climate change.
The direct impacts of climate change on crop potential yields, indirect impacts on production through water shortages, and how these impacts evolve over time are explored in this dissertation. Our overarching objectives are to provide a context for regional agricultural resource decision making in the Columbia River basin, and to lay a platform that allows exploration of adaptation alternatives that ensure a thriving agricultural economy and sustainable natural resource use into the future.
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Details
- Title
- Food for thought: agricultural production in the Columbia River basin under global change.
- Creators
- Kirti Rajagopalan
- Contributors
- Jennifer C Adam (Advisor)Claudio Stockle (Committee Member)Michael Brady (Committee Member)Michael E Barber (Committee Member)Alan Hamlet (Committee Member)Chad Kruger (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Theses and Dissertations
- Doctor of Philosophy (PhD), Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 144
- Identifiers
- 99900581720501842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Dissertation