By Vijay Jayaraj

There is a new movement against farming. This is no random grassroots movement. It’s a global one with political interests. This new collective strategy proposes to reduce agricultural production, reduce livestock numbers, and ban plant growth-enhancing fertilizers.

The objective, they claim, is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, especially nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. They say this will “save” the planet from climate catastrophe. But the proposed actions threaten to increase food prices, cause shortages of staple crops, and increase global food insecurity.

In fact, some countries like Canada and the Netherlands are already instituting policy changes that require reduction of nitrogen fertilizers and farming equipment that runs on fossil fuels. Farmers in both countries are in a state of shock as these actions go against the need of the hour, which is to produce more food crops.

For the Church, this should be a concern. It goes against the Biblical mandate for humans to subdue and rule the earth (Genesis 1:28). The Scriptures advise humankind to flourish by harnessing the naturally available land for plant and animal husbandry.

Biblical Mandate to Feed the Poor and Utilizing Resources for Welfare of People

When it comes to use of natural resources in the created world, God is very clear in His mandate for mankind. He instructs us to be fruitful and multiply. God has blessed us with natural resources that, properly developed, can meet the energy and food needs of the growing population.

It is up to us to harness them. The farming community plays a crucial role by producing food, one of our most basic and fundamental needs. Without adequate food, civilization will struggle to carry out its other endeavors.

“Farmers are commanded by God to have dominion over the creation. Farmers are commanded by God to be fruitful and produce bounty from the land and animals that God has entrusted to them,” comments David Evans.

To reduce agricultural production when hunger and poverty are still prevalent among billions in the world will be suicidal and anti-Biblical. The more food costs, the more people will be pushed into food poverty.

The worst affected are the poorer economies in Africa, Asia, and South America. More than 800 million live in active hunger globally. Surprisingly, food poverty is growing even in advanced economies like the U.S. According to the USDA, “38.3 million people lived in food-insecure households … 584,000 children (0.8 percent of the nation’s children) lived in households in which one or more child experienced very low food security.”

There Is Nothing to Lose, but Only Things to Gain From Climate Change

The general advocacy for climate actions argues that climate change will destroy our ecosystems. But such an argument is misinformed and false. To the contrary, climate change and greenhouse gas emissions have in fact helped green the planet.

The truth about climate and CO₂ emissions’ critical role in helping global agriculture is seldom discussed in the mainstream media, for it goes against the dominant climate narrative that is now demonizing the agricultural sector for excessive greenhouse gas emissions.

Since the 18th century, the gradual increase in global temperatures and atmospheric CO₂ concentrations helped in regreening the earth, which had previously lost many plants to a devastating cold period in the 16th century.

This beneficial impact is true not only for the forests but also for food crops. The elevated CO₂ levels inside a greenhouse farming tent are a classic indication of why plants love CO₂ and how their growth is expedited by an abundance of CO₂.

Forest area is growing in Europe and in parts of Asia. Food production now is at its highest, with higher yield and higher profits. We now successfully feed the highest number of people in the world with a rapid decrease in food poverty.

Besides, even if temperatures were to increase, they would not rise to levels that are currently being predicted by the UN and associated scientists. This is because the climate models used by them to forecast temperatures have been repeatedly proven to be faulty, exaggerating the impact on human emissions on temperature.

The recent events in Sri Lanka are a precursor and warning to Western economies. Sri Lanka’s economy collapsed completely in 2022, and the country’s decision to ban fertilizers and pesticides played a major role in leading to the crisis. Climate-sensitive agricultural practices that reduce/ban fertilizer and pesticide use will result in food shortages, inflation, and unprecedented farmer losses.

The proposed actions to reduce agricultural emissions will result in a reversal of centuries-long improvement in global agriculture and food security. The art of farming has been crafted over many centuries, and the plants carefully bred. With the advent of agricultural technology, man was finally able to achieve unprecedented success and meet food demand of over seven billion people.

But now farmers will be forced to forgo their existing rights to make a profit and unable to partake in God’s mandate to feed the world. If a farmer is forced to reduce yield and emissions and to forgo the use of plant-growth enhancers, global food insecurity will plague more households and hunger will spread.

Those who are intentional about ending global poverty and those with a compassionate heart cannot support draconic agricultural policies that seek to disrupt the great advancement in global food production.

The Church must pray against policies that can usher in global food insecurity at a rapid pace.

Vijay Jayaraj is a research associate at the CO₂ Coalition (Arlington, Virginia) and is a contributing author for the Cornwall Alliance for the Stewardship of Creation. He holds a master’s degree in environmental sciences from the University of East Anglia, UK and resides in India.