Adaptation Practices
Weather and Climate Considerations: Dairy
A short fact sheet summarizing how changing climate impacts dairy operations, and what can dairy farmers do to adapt.
Adaptation Practices
A short fact sheet summarizing how changing climate impacts dairy operations, and what can dairy farmers do to adapt.
Adaptation Practices, Climate Impacts
Heavy rains are becoming more frequent across the Northeastern United States and increasing soil erosion and nutrient runoff problems. Wetter weather in the spring and fall is reducing the number of days that fields can be worked. Consider planting cover crops to help adapt to these climate trends.
Planning, Adaptation Practices
A case study of Clovercrest Farm, a small-scale dairy farm in Charleston, Maine. Includes the impacts of climate change on the farm and their adaptation strategies. The farm milks 95 Jersey cattle on 250 acres, of which 125 acres are pasture and 125 acres are wooded. The farm rents 350 acres of cropland in the surrounding area to grow winter forage. Clovercrest Farm is pasture-based and has been certified USDA organic since 1998.
Climate Impacts
A fact sheet on how climate change is impacting agriculture in the Northeast, primarily through increased incidence of drought, warmer winters and colder springs, and extreme rainfall.
Planning, Adaptation Practices
This technical bulletin contains information and resources designed to help agricultural producers, service providers, and educators in the Midwest and Northeast regions of the United States integrate climate change considerations and action-oriented decisions into existing farm and conservation plans. An Adaptation Workbook provides producers a flexible, structured process to identify and assess climate change impacts, challenges, opportunities, and farm-level adaptation tactics and continuously evaluate adaptation actions for improving responses to extreme and uncertain conditions. A synthesis of Adaptation Strategies and Approaches serves as a “menu” of potential responses organized to provide a clear rationale for making decisions by connecting planned actions to broad adaptation concepts.
Adaptation Practices
Three fact sheets on soil moisture on farms: "Soil water availability monitoring for diversified vegetable farms", "Soil water monitoring systems: Components and costs", and "How Much is Enough? Dialing in Irrigation on Northeast Diversified Vegetable Farms".
Planning
As sea levels rise along the coasts, saltwater can move onto the land. Known as saltwater intrusion, this occurs when storm surges or high tides overtop areas low in elevation. It also occurs when saltwater infiltrates freshwater aquifers and raises the groundwater table below the soil surface. This article summarizes and provides more resources on the current and future impact of saltwater on coastal farms.
Adaptation Practices, Funding
Biochar basics: what it is, how it is produced, how it is applied, benefits for farms and the climate, and federal funding sources.
Adaptation Practices
Farm managers speak about their diversified vegetable operation in Northford, Connecticut, and the changes that Cecarelli Farms has gone through to become both a more sustainable and efficient operation.
Planning
An interactive map tool to check climate conditions across the US projected through the end of the century.
Climate Impacts, Adaptation Practices
Visit a small-scale agroforestry system in the Yale-Myers forest and learn how this diverse orchard is being managed to address pests, weeds, drought, and erosion.
Adaptation Practices
University of New Hampshire researchers are looking at ways growers might adapt to and take advantage of current and expected climate conditions from managing insect pests to growing new crops and varieties. Experiments range from establishing beneficial plant habitats and wildflower meadows to running cold hardiness fruit trials and using practices to extend the growing season.
Adaptation Practices
Visit the University of Vermont research happening on working dairy farms to see how management practices can affect water quality, economics, and greenhouse gas emissions.
Adaptation Practices, Climate Impacts
University of Rhode Island is conducting research and outreach on high tunnel production and summer cover crops to help farmers tackle both the risks and opportunities posed by climate change.
Adaptation Practices
Visit the research and variety trials happening at the University of Maine's Highmoor Farm. Maine is a state known for its long, cold winters and short growing season, but changes in climate are disrupting this norm. Many growers across the state have already started to experience the trend towards longer growing seasons. Slightly warmer summers and slightly milder winters may provide new opportunities, but can also come with a cost.
Adaptation Practices
As the climate continues to change, food security will likely remain an issue. Urban food hubs like the East Capitol Urban Farm can help mitigate the effects of warming temperatures and precipitation extremes.
Adaptation Practices
Warmer temperatures and longer growing seasons offer Pennsylvania dairy farmers the ability to plant more than one crop in a season. In this virtual tour, Penn State University researchers are studying cropping systems that can make dairy farming more sustainable in the face of a changing climate, such as double-cropping.
Adaptation Practices, Planning
A case study on how researchers at the University of Delaware's Warrington Irrigation Research Farm are improving irrigation to boost crop yields and manage soil and water resources.
Adaptation Practices
The Delaware State University (DSU) Outreach & Research Center provides a demonstration of high tunnel designs and best practices for small farmers to protect and improve their operations in a changing climate.
Adaptation Practices
This tour explores the silvopasture systems and adaptive management practices at Dickinson College Farm.
Funding
A searchable list of farm funding programs.
Climate Impacts
Visit with the researchers at West Virginia University who are working with McConnell’s Berry Farm to study the impacts of increasing temperatures on blueberry pollination and production.
Adaptation Practices
Visit Angus Glen Farms, a 300 acre operation located in Watkins Glen, New York using agroforestry practices. The farm has 80 cow-calf pairs of Angus cattle grown for seed-stock and grass-fed beef production.
Adaptation Practices
A list of fact sheets on climate change resources, with topics ranging from Agroforestry to Maple Syrup to Urban Forests and Climate Change.