Presentation about the draft Adaptation Resource for Agriculture that have been developed by the USDA Regional Climate Hubs: Midwest, Northeast, and Northern Forests.

1. Adaptation Resources
for Agriculture
Danielle Shannon & Chris Swanston, NIACS
Mike Wilson & Mike Kucera, NRCS
Jerry Hatfield & Howard Skinner, ARS
David Hollinger, FS
Maria Janowiak, maria.janowiak@usda.gov

2. Topics for Webinar
• Description of the Adaptation Resources for Agriculture
• Adaptation Workbook
• Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
• Adaptation Demonstration
• Request for Feedback
• Process/Timeline
• Questions & Discussion
Houghton, MI
Durham,
NH
Ames, IA
Climate Hub
Midwest
Climate Hub
Northeast
Climate Hub
Northern Forests
Joint project of USDA Climate
Hubs: Midwest, Northeast, and
Northern Forests

3. Swanston and Janowiak 2012;
www.nrs.fs.fed.us/pubs/40543
Tool: Forest Adaptation Resources
adaptationworkbook.org

4. www.forestadaptation.org Click ‘Demonstration Projects’
Real-world Adaptation Projects

5. How to we adapt these
resources for agriculture?

6. There isn’t a single answer
Each decision is unique and will vary based upon:
• Place: Location & Site Conditions
• Purpose: Goals & Objectives
• People: Values, Culture, & Resources
Adaptation resources help
producers/managers make decisions
(without telling them what do do)

7. Adaptation Resources
1) Adaptation Workbook – a structured process to
integrate climate change considerations into
management and planning
2) Adaptation Strategies and Approaches – a
“menu” of adaptation actions to choose from
3) Adaptation Demonstrations – real-world
examples of how producers meet management
goals and adapt to changing conditions

8. Adaptation Workbook Process

9. Adaptation Workbook Process

10. Adaptation Workbook Process
Resource: Climate
Change Assessments

11. Adaptation Workbook Process
Resource: Climate
Change Assessments
Resource: Adaptation
Strategies & Approaches

12. Provides a menu to
help producers
translate broad
concepts to specific,
implementable tactics
Shows your rationale
for deciding on a
specific action
Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
CONCEPT
ACTION
STRATEGIES
APROACHES
TACTICS
ACTION

13. How the menu is created:
1. Review literature (>50 papers)
2. Collect adaptation actions
of all types (>225 actions)
3. Organize by system,
similarity, and scale
4. Create description
5. Review
6. Repeat!
Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
Literature
review to
identify
adaptation
actions
Organize
adaptation
actions into
practical
“menu”

14. Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
CONCEPT
ACTION
ACTION
At conceptual level, there
are three broad options:
• Resist change
• Enhance resilience
• Transition systems
toward future conditions

15. Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
CONCEPT
ACTION
STRATEGIES
APROACHES
TACTICS
ACTION
• Strategies describe a broad
response, applicable to many
systems and landscapes
• Approaches are more specific,
showing differences in goals,
systems, and application
• Tactics are prescriptive, on-
the-ground actions selected
by the producer

16. Strategies– DRAFT
1. Sustain fundamental functions of soil and water.
2. Reduce the impact of non-climate stressors.
3. Reduce risks from warmer and drier conditions.
4. Reduce the risk and long-term impacts of extreme weather.
5. Manage farms and fields as part of a larger landscape.
6. Alter management to accommodate expected future conditions.
7. Alter agricultural systems or lands to new climate conditions.
8. Alter infrastructure to accommodate new and expected
conditions.

17. Approaches– DRAFT
Strategy 1: Sustain fundamental functions of soil and water.
• Maintain and restore soil health.
• Protect water quality and quantity.
• Match practices to water demand and supply.
Strategy 3: Reduce risks from warmer and drier conditions.
• Adjust the timing or location of on-farm activities.
• Manage crops to cope with warmer and drier conditions.
• Manage livestock to cope with warmer and drier conditions.

18. Approaches– DRAFT
Strategy 6: Alter management to accommodate expected future
conditions.
• Diversify varieties, crops, breeds, or products.
• Establish or encourage new combinations of varieties or breeds.
• Switch to commodities expected to be better suited to future
conditions.
Strategy 7: Alter agricultural systems or lands to new climate
conditions.
• Minimize potential impacts following disturbance.
• Realign severely altered systems toward future conditions.
• Alter lands in agricultural production.

19. Strategy/Approach Descriptions
Strategy: Reduce the risk and long-term impacts of extreme weather.
Climate change increases overall climate variability and increases the likelihood and severity of
many extreme weather events. Climate change is expected to increase the potential for extreme
weather events, such as extreme precipitation and wind, which will increasingly affect
agricultural activity. Further, extreme cold, snow, and other winter conditions will continue to
persist—or even increase, such as with mid-latitude snow in some areas—for many decades into
the future. Even as trends continue to emerge, responses will need…
Approach: Reduce peak flows, runoff, and water erosion.
While precipitation projections vary, climate change is widely expected to increase the frequency
and intensity of extreme precipitation events across the entire U.S. Increases in runoff following
severe precipitation events could also lead to an increase in soil erosion, although the risk from
flooding, erosion, and other impacts on a specific site ultimately depend on local geological and
topographic conditions of the location. Actions can be taken to reduce the severity of these
events on soil and water resources when they do occur by reducing the flashiness of these
extreme events and slowing the flow of water across the landscape
Example Adaptation Tactic Associated Conservation Practices
Reduce over-land flows Contour Buffer Strips; Contour Farming
Using swales to buffer against hydrologic variability
Upgrade infrastructure (roads, culverts, etc) to
accommodate more intense precipitation events
Terrace; Dam ; Pond
Maintain soil cover from vegetation or residues. Cover crop
Strategy describes
broad response
(plus description)
Approach gives greater
detail
(plus description)
Tactics provide examples
of on-the-ground actions
(connect to potential
Conservation Practices)

20. Adaptation Example
• Mike Kucera, NRCS Agronomist in Nebraska
• 61 ac crops, 90 ac pasture
• Crops; 25 years of continuous no-till, dryland farming
• Pilot project for MW and NE Hubs
• 4 hours to do the workbook

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34
5 Step 1: DEFINE area of interest, management
goals and objectives, and time frames.
Cropland – 61 acres
Continuous no-till corn-soybean-wheat (1/1/1)
Property Goals Cropland Objectives
• Conserve soil moisture
• Improve soil health
• Maintain or even increase crop yields
• Maximize ground cover to reduce soil temperature,
evaporation, and maintain productivity during
drought
• Increase soil organic matter to improve long-term
soil productivity
• Maintain and improve soils structure for improve
water infiltration (via organic matter and worms)
• Maintain lands in CRP programs for conservation

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5 Step 2: ASSESS climate change impacts and
vulnerabilities for the area of interest.
How might the area be uniquely affected by climatic change?
Cropland will likely be most affected by altered precipitation:
• drought
• extreme precipitation events
Property is less vulnerable to both drought and runoff than
the local average because of the no-till system and work
done to date to improve soil quality and infiltration and
reduce evaporation
Crops are each affected differently based on their biology—
influenced by annual rainfall patterns

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5 Step 3: EVALUATE management objectives
given projected impacts and vulnerabilities.
Challenges Opportunities
• Increasing variability of rainfall:
probably too little or at the wrong
time
• very extreme rainfall could cause
crop damage
• Increases in pests and diseases
• Warmer temps result in greater
respiration, which could impair yields
reducing the ability to increase OM
• Multi-year impacts: low productivity
one year could impact next year
(residue on surface affects yield)
• And more…
• System could increase water recharge
(as long as not too much precip)
• Utilize high carbon-nitrogen ratio
cover crops following wheat harvest
to increase the amount of residue
cover during hot dry summer months
• Utilize a stripper header for and
planting system that maximizes
standing cover and residue retention
• Possibly utilize cool season cover
crops due to warmer winters

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5 Step 4: IDENTIFY and adaptation approaches
and tactics for implementation.
Approach (from menu) Tactic (created by producer)
• Maintain and restore soil health Use legume cover crops after wheat in years
that are projected to have wetter conditions
to retain soil moisture
• Adjust the timing or location of activities
to match altered seasonality.
• Select varieties and breeds expected to
be better adapted to future conditions
• Establish or encourage new combinations
of varieties or breeds
Plant sorghum instead of corn during the
spring when soil moisture is low
Alternative rotations, such as winter canola
and wheat (used in Oklahoma)
• Diversify varieties, crops, products, or
practices
Plant a wider array of crops
Substitute crops (e.g., sorghum for corn)
• Manage crops to cope with hotter and
drier conditions.
Switch to irrigated systems

25. Monitoring Item Criteria for Evaluation
Monitoring
Implementation
Crop productivity
(bushels per acre per
year)
Similar or better yields over a
10-year period
Continue record-
keeping
Runoff after heavy
storms: degree of
erosion after a 2-inch
Times erosion/runoff observed
Erosion in a particular place
that tends to be susceptible
Canyon depth or gullying
Need to record!
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5 Step 5: MONITOR and evaluate effectiveness of
implemented actions.

26. Adaptation Resources - Timeline
• Summer 2015
• Performed literature review & created first draft
• Fall 2015
• Collect feedback from researchers, professionals, & producers
• Feedback period ends December 31
• Winter 2015
• Review and incorporate feedback
• Test Adaptation Workbook on a wider variety of projects
• Revise document
• Spring 2015
• Submit document for publication
• Continued testing and use with agricultural producers (TBD)

27. Providing Feedback
Emphasis on Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
For each strategy:
• How well does the strategy and supporting text clearly
describe the possible adaption action?
• Can the strategy be implemented in the agricultural systems
in which you work? If not, why?

28. Providing Feedback
Emphasis on Adaptation Strategies and Approaches
For each approach:
• How well does the approach and supporting text clearly
describe the possible adaption action?
• Can the approach be implemented in the agricultural
systems in which you work? If not, why?
• Do the example tactics provide a sense of how this approach
could possibly be implemented?
• Do you have suggestions for other example tactics?

29. Providing Feedback
• Documents/instructions at
www.climateframework.org/agriculture
• Feedback form online at
https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ag-adaptation
• Radio buttons required; comments optional
• Answers/work will save (on same computer with cookies enabled)
• Expect a few hours to complete
• Alternatively, email comments to maria.janowiak@usda.gov
• Feedback due December 31, 2015