Minimize potential impacts following disturbance

Potential increases in the frequency, intensity, and extent of large and severe disturbances, such as extreme precipitation or storm events, may disrupt vegetation and result in the loss of plant cover, productivity, or function. Changing conditions are expected to increase the risk of crop losses and failures. Prompt remediation and revegetation of sites following disturbance helps to reduce soil loss and erosion, maintain water quality, and discourage weedy species in the newly exposed areas. Because many of the best opportunities for addressing disturbance-related impacts are likely to occur immediately after the disturbance event, having a suite of pre-planned options in place may facilitate an earlier and more flexible response. Where a particular event exceeds the resilience of a particular location or system and a return to previous conditions is no longer feasible, this approach complements Approach 7.2 (Realign severely altered systems toward future conditions) that follows.

Beyond deliberate changes in farm commodities and practices, there may be a need for wholesale change within agricultural systems due to the degree of change observed in a particular place. While agriculture has been able to largely adapt to recent changes in climate, substantial pressures from climate change and associated socioeconomic changes will create substantial challenges in coming decades. This strategy touches on actions to respond to severely changed conditions in a way that anticipates continued change and uncertainty in the future.