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The Quarterly Harvest

Working as a collaboration to promote climate informed decisions on farms and forests.

Our e-newsletter, The Quarterly Harvest, seeks to deliver high level updates and articles with a balanced mix of created and curated content from USDA Northeast Climate Hub staff and partners to keep you informed.

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Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

Open newsletter
Contents of this edition:

In this edition of the Quarterly Harvest check out stories on carbon storage in soils and forests, learn about the climate impacts to coastal forests in our latest research brief, and discover a new virtual tour at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest (HBEF), which brings you into forest experiments that are being used to study forest response to extreme weather events, such as ice storms, drought, and warming.

As 2020 came to a close, this edition of the Quarterly Harvest provided an array of webinars and resources to help support farmer decision making and spark ideas for improving soil health and water quality.

“Flash drought” refers to drought conditions that develop unusually quickly, in effect sneaking up on farmers and policy managers. This kind of drought doesn’t happen often in the Northeast but it did this year. Grab the Summer edition of the Quarterly Harvest to learn more about drought and drought resistance practices in the Northeast. Readers will also find a new virtual tour exploring milkweed at Borderview Farm, tutorials on using NEWA data, and a research brief on how climate chanage is impacting aquaculture in Connecticut's Long Island Sound.

Inside this edition of the Quarterly Harvest, discover a little bit of everything. Topics range from heat stress in dairy cows and saltwater intrusion in agriculture to how agroforestry can aid in greenhouse gas mitigation and addressing environmental knowledge and perceptions of underrepresented urban populations. Readers can also explore a new virtual tour on irrigation and water management by the University of Maryland in nursery and greenhouse operations.

Browse through our winter edition of the Quarterly Harvest. We begin the new year with a new team member, webinars and products. This new year also brings "January temperatures in the Northeast averaged 3 to 9 °F above normal. December was also above average, especially in West Virginia. And except for a few places in the far north, snowfall is also down." (via NOAA’s Northeast Regional Climate Center)

We announce the official launch of the the Climate Adaptation Fellowship in this edition of the Quarterly Harvest. Next, catch up with some of the different climate adaptation research projects happening across our region. Visit two new virtual tours where researchers are exploring how rising temperatures will impact different agricultural systems. Explore how increases in temperature impact blueberries and pollinators in West Virginia, or how longer growing seasons in Pennsylvania are now presenting dairy farmers with the ability to plant more than one crop in a season. In stride with these research stories, learn how warming temperatures also present new opportunity for summer cover crops, but also require farmers to seriously consider their options for managing animal heat stress, and much more!

Could the devastating floods in the Midwest this past spring ever happen in the Northeast? Read about the breakdown of possibilities for our region. In addition to this, readers can listen to talks from our 2018 Partners Meeting through the recently published meeting proceedings, explore a new virtual tour at the Yale-Myers Forest Orchard, learn about how warmer winters and shifting seasons are affecting the logging industry, and more in this Quarterly Harvest edition.

This Quarterly Harvest has a lot to unpack in the new year. We begin 2019 with a new NRCS Liaison and a look at the latest climate science reports that were released late last Fall. Readers will also find Northeast specific assessments and research from the latest U.S. Forest Service vulnerability assessment on Mid-Atlantic forests to irrigation, agroforestry, and dairy systems projects happening in Vermont.

In this issue of theQuarterly Harvest, we begin with a highlight on why shifting ocean circulation patterns matter to regional agricultural producers. Then, tucked between webinars, a photo essay, and guest article from West Virginia University, readers will discover three new 'As If You Were There' virtual tours highlighting climate adaptation work and research at the University of Delaware, University of New Hampshire, and University of Massachusetts - Amherst.

Are long range weather forecasts getting better? This and more in this Quarterly Harvest. Some highlights include a new economic case study on gully erosion and stabilization on a Vermont farm, a new research brief on the USDA ARS Farming Systems Project in Maryland, and the launch of Cornell University's 'As If You Were There'  virtual tour looking at biochar and compost.

This Quarterly Harvest is packed! Here we share insight into the unstable arctic vortex, announce a new webinar, feature two new 'As If You Were There'virtual tours, highlight farmer focus groups on climate change from the University of Maine and Cornell University, share agricultural reflections from abroad, and so much more.

In this Quarterly Harvest newsletter, we highlight new studies on climate risks and opportunities for Northeast crop and livestock farmers, a video series launched by Rutgers Climate Institute, a case study focused on a family dairy in Maine, and two guest authored articles by the USDA National Agroforestry Center and University of New Hampshire that both speak to planning ahead for future conditions.