1. Is Your Farm Climate Ready?
Best Practices for Managing
Climate Risk on Your Farm
“Although agriculture has a long history of successful adaptation to
climate conditions, the current pace of climate change and the
intensity of projected climate changes represent a novel and
unprecedented challenge to the sustainability of U.S. agriculture.“
Climate Change and Agriculture: Effects and Adaptation. C. Walthall, J. Hatfield,
L. Lengnick, E. Marshall and P. Backlund. 2012. USDA Technical Bulletin 1935

2. Agricultural Risk

3. Climate Risk
Degree to which a Ability of a farm to
farm experiences climate- cope with climate-
related events. related events.
Exposure Adaptive Capacity
Farm Vulnerability

4. How Vulnerable Is Your Farm?
HIGH HIGH MOD
High
HIGH MOD LOW
EXPOSURE
MOD LOW LOW
Low
Low ADAPTIVE CAPACITY High

5. Assessing Your Vulnerability
• What are your key exposures?
– Increasing CO2 and average temperatures
– Increasing weather variability
– More extreme events
– Impact synergies
• What is your farm’s adaptive capacity?
– Production system sensitivity
– Resource characteristics
– Recovery reserves

6. Your Farm Exposure?
• Key near term impacts in Southeast
– More variable temperatures and precipitation
– More extreme weather events
– Warmer nights
– Higher pest pressure and novel pests
• Useful regional projections now available
• No local projections, but landscape
moderates regional effects

7. Assessing Adaptive Capacity
• Soil
• Water
• Microclimates
• Infrastructure
• Crops/Livestock
• Production system
• Extreme events plan
• Farm reserves
• Community support

8. Enhancing Adaptive Capacity:
Three Management Strategies

9. Resistance Practices
Strategy: Accept increased costs and more risk to
maintain existing production system.
• Water • Temperature
– Select robust types – Select robust types
– Equipment needed for – Adjust field operations
flexible timing of field – Physical protection and
operations
space conditioning
– Irrigation and drainage
• Pests and Disease • Manage Climate Risk
– – Increase reserves
Select robust types
– IPM – Production insurance
– Physical protection – Use seasonal
– Increased pesticides forecasting in planning

10. Know Crops and Livestock
• Optimum moisture and temp. ranges?
• Critical periods and thresholds?
• Tolerance for variability and extremes?
Vegetable Crop Irrigation NC Coop. Extension

11. Robust Types?
Red Orach (Atriplex hortensis)
Sahiwal
http://www.thecattlesite.com/breeds/dairy/96/sahiwa
l/overview

12. Micro-irrigation
• Low-flow
Drip emitters
technology
• Water delivered
directly to plant
roots
• Delivers just Micro-sprayer
enough water for
plant use
• Prevents leaching
Bubbler
and runoff losses

13. Integrated Pest Management
http://attra.ncat.org/attra-pub/PDF/ipm.pdf

14. Resilience Practices
Strategy: Design responsive farm ecosystem to reduce risk.
• Build soil health
• Manage water cycle
• Enhance biodiversity
• Integrate robust crops and livestock
• Manage “farmscape”
– Edges
– Topography/microclimates
– Restore wetlands
– Agroforestry in riparian areas
• Use adaptive management
• Regularly assess farm vulnerability
• Use climate projections in strategic planning

15. Healthy Soils Capture
and Store Water
From Sustainable Soil Mgt. ATTRA

16. Manage Water Cycle
• aim: maximize water infiltration and storage in soil
• strategy: maintain high soil OM/protect soil surface
• practices: crop rotation, cover crops, mulches,
contour plowing, terracing, reduced tillage
• benefits: reduces need for irrigation, improves
water quality leaving farm, increases groundwater
recharge
http://www.css.cornell.edu/faculty/hmv1/watrshed/ntcover.JPG

17. Ecological Pest Management – “Many little hammers!”
A Whole-Farm Approach to Managing Pests, SARE

18. Farmscaping

19. Microclimate/Topography
http://www.small-farm-permaculture-and-sustainable-
living.com/images/Landscape_profile.gif

20. Transformation Practices
Strategy: Design self-organizing ecosystem capable of
sustained food and fiber production using renewable
resources in a variable climate.
• On farm
– Climate-ready crop and livestock species,
enterprises, production practices
– Regional markets
– Focus on renewables and soft adaptations
– Convert cropland to pasture and forest
• Food system
– Supply seasonal diet
– Regional production and processing

21. Key Actions Now
• Recognize you are farming on a new
planet
• Address key farm vulnerabilities
• Manage for resilience with “no-regrets”
adaptations
• Consider climate change in longer-term
decisions
• Near term challenge is water