Adaptation to Climate Change: Information and Tools for Decision-Making
On October 17th and 18th, 2017 in Syracuse New York, members of the USDA Climate Hubs, Environment and Climate Change Canada, and Agriculture, Agri-Food Canada, Cornell University and Ouranos convened and invited stakeholders to address “Adaptation to Climate Change: Information and Tools for Decision-Making” via three key themes: 1) Addressing Extreme Weather Events, 2) Climate Change, Pests and Diseases, and 3) Weather & Climate Decision Support Tools. Whereas previous cross-border workshops focused on agricultural opportunities related to climate change, the three themes in the 2017 workshop expanded our cross-border creativity, knowledge, and awareness in new horizons.
The speakers and presenters provided thought-provoking data which stimulated great questions and breakout group discussions (View full workshop program). The goal of this workshop was for participants to walk away with some cross-border collaborative project ideas, and where possible, to commit to follow-through with the next steps required to implement such projects.
Opening Presentations
Change is in the Air: Agriculture in a Changing Climate
by Art DeGaetano | Earth and Atmospheric Science, Cornell University, and Director, Northeast Regional Climate Center
Modern Agroclimatic Research and Investment Planning (High Performance-High Resolution Adaptation)
by Dr. Henry David (Hank) Venema | International Institute for Sustainable Development
Theme 1: Addressing Extreme Weather Events
Climate Change and Soil Carbon
by Louis-Pierre Comeau | Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
Extreme Temperature and Precipitation: Past Changes and Future Projections
by Xuebin Zhang | Environment and Climate Change, Canada
Watershed Issues of the Northeast
by Todd Walter | Biological and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University
Examining the Role of Extreme Rainfall in Runoff Generation and Phosphorus Loss from a Headwater Agricultural Basin
by Anthony Buda | USDA, Agricultural Research Service, and Co-Director, USDA Northeast Climate Hub
Theme 2: Climate Change, Pests and Diseases
Bioclimatic Modelling of Crop-Pest Interactions to Study the Impacts of Climate Change and Variability in Eastern Canada
by Gaétan Bourgeois, Ph.D. | Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu Research and Development Centre, QC
AgWeather Quebec: Weather-based Tools to Support Pest Management in a Changing Climate
by René Audet | Science and Technology Branch, Agriculture and Agri-Food, Canada
Climate Change and Pests: Monitor, Mitigate, Manage
by Lewis H. Ziska, Ph.D. | USDA, Agricultural Research Service, Adaptive Crop Systems Laboratory
The Potential Influence of Climate Change on Produce Safety
by Rachel E. Schattman, Ph.D. | Research Specialist, University of Vermont Extension Vegetable and Berry Program, and Post-doctoral Fellow, USDA Northeast Climate Hub
Theme 3: Weather and Climate Decision Support Tools
Developing Useful Decision Tools – the U2U Experience
by Dennis Todey | USDA, Agricultural Research Service, and Director, USDA Midwest Climate Hub
Tools Café
Facilitated by Danielle Eiseman | Program Manager, Cornell Institute for Climate Smart Solutions
Tools Café Presenters:
René Audet
AgWeather Quebec and AgWeather Atlantic are sister web platforms that provide regionally relevant agricultural weather data, information and decision support tools to farmers and agricultural advisors in eastern Canada. These tools contribute to better management of agricultural pests, farm inputs and resources (pesticides, water, nutrients), farm operations and marketing, and climate variability.
Carlos Carillo
New York State/Northeast Drought Atlas shows current conditions of drought for the Northeast states using 4 km resolution maps of the Palmer Drought Severity Index (PDSI). At this resolution, the Atlas assess climate factors at regional scale and incorporates heterogeneous soil properties to produce and index of local drought conditions.
Colin Beier
New York Climate Science Clearinghouse & GIS Viewer lets you visualize and explore maps of current and future climate along with map layers representing multiple sectors across the state of New York. This tool can help support climate adaptation efforts via data exploration and visualization in a web browser (no GIS software required).
Gaétan Bourgeois
CIPRA 2017 Integrated Crop and Pest Management in Eastern Canada uses weather observations and forecasts in real-time. Bioclimatic models within CIPRA can predict the phenology of several vegetable, fruit, small grain, and forage crops, as well as the development of insect pests, diseases and physiological disorders that may affect them.
Keith Eggleston
scACIS and Northeast Regional Climate Center (NRCC) Data Products for Turfgrass offer tools that are used to extract and summarize in various ways (tables, graphs and maps) data from the ACIS climate database for a wide variety of users. These tools distill large amounts of data into concise products that can assist users making decisions based on these data.
Danielle Eiseman
Cornell’s Climate Smart Farming Tools provide a suite of free-to-use tools to help farmers better understand the potential risks posed by the changing climate, such as freeze risk, water deficit and growing degree days. Gridded data provides localized information on longer term risks to a variety of crops, based on current and historical climate data.
Robert Farnham
John Deere Tools uses technology to compile data for farmers so that they can operate more efficiently, thus better managing production costs, increasing production and increasing profits. These tools help farmers make better management decisions, save time and money.
Rick Fleetwood
Extreme Precipitation (IDF) Viewer for Atlantic Canada, CoCoRaHS Canada Precipitation Network, and ECCC Climate Data Archive have access to historical climate information and analysis to help users to better understand the normal climate conditions and extremes for various locations in Canada. They also provide access to hourly, daily and monthly data for specific dates/periods as required.
Roland Krobel
Holos Whole-Farm Model can test possible ways of reducing GHG emissions from farms and is available at no cost to users. The tool estimates carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide and methane from a variety of farm operations for the whole farm that can help the user identify ways to reduce farm emissions.
Ellen Mecray
NOAA Climate.gov provides people in the U.S. with timely and accurate basic weather, water, and climate forecasts and information. The platform works with different sectors to apply NOAA’s data to solutions in the workplace.
Jon Neutens
Weather INnovations provides information and decision support tools that improve sustainability, consistency and profitability of agriculture production. This suite of tools allow growers to tailor their program to the level of risk management they are comfortable with, and to minimize the dollars spent on disease control.
Dan Olmstead
The Network for Environment and Weather Applications (NEWA) provides localized short-term agricultural insect and disease forecasts, using weather data streamed in real time from grower owned stations. Growing conditions can change rapidly within and across seasons, and NEWA provides customized risk predictions at the farm or field level in real time.
Note: Presentations from the workshop are posted here with permission.