If you interview people across the globe and different countries, you would hear that some are really scared about what’s happening to our planet. For example, 2016 was named the hottest year on record, making it the third consecutive year to achieve such extreme heat levels. Global warming is more of a problem than it’s ever been before. The more hot years we will continue to have, the more we will be threatened by things like rising sea levels and extreme weather events. However, I’m sure you’ve heard all that before – the internet is full of information that puts climate change at the forefront.

Regardless of the negative news, we are taking a step in the right direction. For instance, last year in Paris, 195 nations agreed to cut their carbon emissions, showing that world leaders really do recognize the dangers associated with global warming and it’s great that we’re taking collective action. But even with all the government work, regulations and new laws that will force people to reduce their carbon emissions, it won’t be enough to make a serious difference. So what’s the solution then? What can we do to reverse the negative damage we have caused to earth? The biggest positive impact will be made by utilizing AgTech and geoengineering – let’s discuss why.

What is geoengineering and how it impacts agriculture

Geoengineering is simply the idea of engineering the earth or changing something that would affect the entire planet like the climate. So, in a sense, building technology that could produce enormous amounts of heat-trapping particles in order to cool down our planet might be the perfect example of geoengineering. On the other hand, scientists define geoengineering much more narrowly as a deliberate and not accidental large-scale intervention in the earth’s natural systems to specifically counteract climate change. For the most part, geoengineering can be extremely simple to understand.

However, if we look at the other end of the spectrum, geoengineering can also be incredibly high-tech. For instance, you could set up massive arrays of mirrors in space that could be tilted to shade us from just the right amount of energy that is generated from the sun. If this is achieved, we will be able to cool the earth or prevent it from warming too fast. To put this in better perspective, some geoengineering experiments have already been conducted on a very small scale. For example, scientists have known for a long time that adding iron to iron-poor areas of the ocean can stimulate plankton growth which in turn takes up carbon. To sum it up, geoengineering has tremendous potential to prolong the lifespan of our planet. Now let’s get into how AgTech can help.

The role of agriculture technology in geoengineering

You might be wondering how can agriculture technology be possibly useful in developing technology that is launched to space for cooling down our sun? Well, the truth of the matter is that as we’ve stated previously, geoengineering can be as simple or as complicated as you would like it to be, but it doesn’t need to be complex to make a big difference. When it comes to farming and agriculture, farmers play a big role in stopping climate change. How come? By shifting their focus to more eco-friendly and sustainable ways, farmers will be able to utilize the natural ability of plants to cool the planet down.

This is achieved when plants “breathe”, consuming carbon dioxide which is one of the leading causes of climate change. If we could alter plant DNA to become 100% immune to diseases by using AgTech and then utilize geoengineering to create climates that are decent enough for more plants to grow in cities long-term, carbon emissions would be reduced by over 40%, not counting other factors that will help reverse the negative effects of climate change.