[1][3] USDA research indicates that these climatic changes will lead to a decline in yield and nutrient density in key crops, as well as decreased livestock productivity.
[2][7] Projections for crops and livestock production systems reveal that climate change effects over the next 25 years will be mixed.
[6] Increases of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2), rising temperatures, and altered precipitation patterns will affect agricultural productivity.
Effects will vary among annual and perennial crops, and regions of the United States; however, all production systems will be affected to some degree by climate change.
Multiple stressors, including climate change, increasingly compromise the ability of ecosystems to provide these services.
[6] Key near-term climate change effects on agricultural soil and water resources include the potential for increased soil erosion through extreme precipitation events, as well as regional and seasonal changes in the availability of water resources for both rain-fed and irrigated agriculture.
[6] Agricultural systems depend upon reliable water sources, and the pattern and potential magnitude of precipitation changes is not well understood, thus adding considerable uncertainty to assessment efforts.
Extremes matter because agricultural productivity is driven largely by environmental conditions during critical threshold periods of crop and livestock development.
Improved assessment of climate change effects on agricultural productivity requires greater integration of extreme events into crop and economic models.
[11] A "USDA Science Blueprint" released in February 2020 focuses on areas from "soil health to weather impacts on agriculture to data collection, and specifically mentions climate change."