Agriculture and Global Warming: Their Interaction and Other Problems of Sustainability

Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas emissions. Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture would contribute substantially to the mitigation of global warming. Conversely, the progression of global warming influences agriculture. Farmers need to adapt to the changing climate according to their particular agricultural situation. Sustainability of the global environment is essential for agriculture and human life, but there remain several problems regarding the time scale of sustainability. To solve these problems, we must estimate the adaptive capacity of the Earth for irreversible impacts of global warming. Gaining an understanding of the "big picture", which will allow quantitative objectives for coping with global warming to be established, is currently the toppriority task of the natural sciences.