Describe the physical factors that favoured wheat growing on the Canadian Prairies
Answers
Answer:
This website stores cookies on your computer. These cookies are used to collect information about how you interact with our website and allow us to remember you. We use this information in order to improve and customize your browsing experience and for analytics and metrics about our visitors both on this website and other media. To find out more about the cookies we use, see our Privacy Policy.
If you decline, your information won’t be tracked when you visit this website. A single cookie will be used in your browser to remember your preference not to be tracked.
AcceptDecline
Gro IntelligenceGro Intelligence
Toggle navigation
Sign up
Log in
INSIGHTS
Canada's Wheat Primed for Climate Adaptation
10 January 2018
SHARE
TAGS
CanadaWheatClimate change
Changing climate conditions will surely affect Canada’s growing agricultural influence. Since the Canadian Wheat Board relinquished its control of exports in 2012, overseas demand for them has increased. Whereas a warmer Russia produced a staggering 83 million tonnes of wheat in 2017, wheat production in the Canadian prairie provinces was threatened by droughts and high temperatures thought to be brought about by climate change. For the first time, wheat farmers are now looking northward to the Yukon, Northwest Territories, and Nunavut to provide new acreage for wheat.
Ramped up atmospheric carbon dioxide, increasing temperatures, and changing precipitation patterns are all having huge effects on wheat cultivation. Continued viability of wheat in currently-farmed prairie depends on how the interaction of these environmental factors plays out. Prairie wheat farmers frustrated with production pressures may be forced northward in an attempt to maintain production.
Read more:
Background
Carbon Dioxide and Wheat
Canadian Wheat Feels the Heat
Climate Opportunity
Conclusion
Background
While 2017 wasn’t a record year for Canadian wheat production, the harvest was still larger than the country’s canola, soybean, and corn crops. Despite national production reaching 30 million tonnes in 2017, production in the important provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta dropped from a combined 24.44 million tonnes in 2016 to a combined 20.56 million tonnes in 2017. Low precipitation in Saskatchewan worsened this downward production trend in wheat. Total Canadian harvested wheat area increased slightly to 8.43 million hectares, but harvested area dropped by 76,000 hectares in Saskatchewan. Lower-than-average wheat yields of 2.1, 3.2, and 5 tonnes per hectare for durum, spring, and winter wheat, respectively, also reflect a drop from 2016 yields. Durum wheat grown primarily in central and southern Saskatchewan was also hurt by dryness in the summer of 2017.
Sign up to view more data
Sign up to view more data
Carbon Dioxide and Wheat
If current trends continue, atmospheric carbon dioxide will rise from today’s concentration of 405.14 parts per million (ppm) to above 500 ppm within 50 years. Wheat yield could increase as much as 10 percent under those conditions, according to research on spring wheat exposed to free-air carbon dioxide enrichment.
Mirroring the potential benefits Canada may receive from a changing climate, rising temperatures in Russia have encouraged farmers to expand wheat production areas northward, leading to record production. With the International Grains Council forecasting a global 1.4 percent annual production increase in wheat through 2021, the two countries are primed to benefit.
Sign up to view more data
While carbon dioxide might improve crop yield, the increased concentration would reduce overall wheat quality. Wheat protein content could decrease by 7.8 percent with increased carbon dioxide levels. As Canada continues to export wheat abroad, including more than 3.5 million tonnes to Africa, changing atmospheric concentration due to a warming climate can put millions at risk of protein deficiency while potentially downgrading wheat quality in world grain markets.
Describe the physical factors that favoured wheat growing on the Canadian Prairies
Answer:
Large area for crop cultivation, light rainfall and temperature ranging from minor freezing in winter to moderate warm in summer.
Explanation:
- The prairie provinces are the most agricultural land in Canada encompassing an area of 1.96 million square kilometres.
- The annual temperature in these areas ranges from below freezing point in winter and to a maximum of 18oC in summer.
- Recorded annual rainfall ranges from 250mm – 500mm. The prairies have deep soil reach in humus which favours wheat farming.
- For these reasons, more area is allocated for wheat farming than any other crop in the prairies.
Learn more about prairies:
https://brainly.in/question/12515313
https://brainly.in/question/6950753