There is an important relationship between weather and farming. In fact, farming DEPENDS on the weather. When the weather is good for farming you will likely hear nothing about it in the media. When the weather is bad though it can make headlines. Droughts and freezes are the biggest concerns. What this essay will cover is methods of technology farming uses to deal with the weather. 1. Hardier crops: These are seeds from the best crops of the past. It is a form of fast forwarding of biological evolution to grow crops that are more weather resistant and bug resistant 2. Irrigation: It is critical crops get the proper amount of water at the proper times. The atmosphere can often be a poor source of water since it is unreliable and the rain is often too much or too little at a time. Irrigation can supplement what the atmosphere is not able to provide and attempt to distribute water over the crops evenly 3. Technology to reduce the chance of freezing: fans to circulation the air (mixing warmer air aloft with freezing temperatures at surface to keep surface temperature above freezing), spraying crops (latent heat of freezing release helps prevent temperatures from going below freezing), covers to hold in warmth from ground and plants. All these technologies work best when temperature is near freezing. If temperature drops too far below freezing these technologies can fail 4. Weather Forecasts: This is important in that it can determine when crops are planted, harvested, watered, protected, fertilized and sprayed |