Starting a Conversation with Nebraskans on Climate Change

Rick Koelsch, UNL Extension

Which of these statements would you identify as FALSE relative to the opinions of Nebraska farmers and ranchers?

• 3 to 11% of Nebraska farmers and ranchers agree with the statement "Climate change is occurring, and it is caused by human activity".

• 60 to 70% of Nebraska farmers/ranchers believe that agriculture should take additional steps to protect farmland from increased weather variability.

• 60 to 70% believe university Extension should help farmers to prepare for increased weather variability.

If you answered that NONE of these statements are FALSE, then you  have a good understanding of the conflicts Nebraskans are experiencing around the issue of climate change. Each of these statements was verified by a survey of 5,000 farmers and ranchers across the north central region including Nebraska.

This is the environment into which Extension is starting a conversation on climate change.  UNL Extension's work group on Resiliency to Extreme Events/Climate Change in Nebraska work group is tackling this issue.  All Extension programs have the potential to be impacted by issues surrounding climate change.  It is important for all Extension professionals to consider how we can succeed in starting this conversation with our clientele.

Extension's Resiliency work group invites all Extension professionals to a webinar "Starting a Conversation with Nebraskans on Climate Change".  The arrangements for participating follow:

Date:  Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Time:  3 to 4 PM Central
Phone Connection:  800-910-2399  passcode 874758#

Web Meeting Room Connection:  http://connect.unl.edu/resiliency

Starting a Conversation with Nebraskans on Climate Change 

Moderator:  Rick Stowell, UNL Biological Systems Engineering (10 minutes each for each panelist)

Farmer/Rancher Perspectives on Climate Change (take home messages from Sustainable Corn/U2U survey of 5000 producers in this region) -  Gordon Arbuckle or Lois Wright Morton, Iowa State University.

Southeast Climate Consortium experience with Learning Communities and other Conversations with Extension Clientele – Wendy-Lin Bartels, Social Scientist, Ag and Bio Engineering at University of Florida.

How Climate Learning Community Has Impacted Alabama Agronomy Extension programs – William Birdsong, Regional Extension Agronomist, Auburn University. 

Lessons Learned from Animal Ag and Changing Climate online course – Rick Stowell

4 to 5 PM - Resiliency Work Group conversation. Contact Rick Koelsch if you wish to participate.

Resiliency to Extreme Weather/Climate Variability in Nebraska

Rick Koelsch, UNL Extension, June 18, 2014

UNL Extension has recently invited 27 faculty and staff to be a part of an initiative targeting Resiliency to Extreme Weather/Climate Variability in Nebraska. Based upon the increasing role that weather events and climate variability is having on our Extension program efforts, UNL Extension’s leadership team saw a need for a faculty team to provide long-term guidance for educational efforts around climate and weather issues.  

We have all observed the excellent short term responses from faculty to events such as the drought in 2012 and the damaging weather events this spring.  It is our desire to have an Extension team that will guide continuously our engagement with weather and climate issues. With the IANR commissioned white paper on Climate Variability impact on Agriculture and Natural Resources soon to be released and opportunity to partner with newly established USDA ARS Climate Hub for the high plains, Extension needs a more sustained engagement with climate/weather issues and a team to guide that engagement. 

Below you will find a brief summary of a possible direction for this initiative.  Also you will find a listing of faculty initially invited to participate.  Several factors were used to identify these individuals including 1) expertise; 2) history of engagement in weather and climate issues; 3) connections to key action teams and administrative units; and 4) representation of both our campus and field faculty.    We hope that all action teams will discuss the relevancy of this issue to their areas of interest.  If an action team would like to include representatives on the this team, please feel free to nominate those individuals.  We anticipate that the faculty engaged in this team will evolve with time.

Extension Initiative:

Resiliency to Extreme Weather / Climate Variability in Nebraska

Outcome: Nebraskans will access research based information in decisions that improve the resiliency of agricultural businesses and communities affected by extreme weather events and increasing climate variability. Extension resources will be targeted to helping key audiences understanding available opportunities to improve resiliency.

Potential Roles:  An Extension work group for Resiliency for Extreme Weather/Climate Variability in Nebraska will be assembled to guide Extension investments and educational program planning as well as pursue funding opportunities. This work group may:

• Review IANR’s Climate Variability White Paper (led by Don Wilhite and released in September) and determine implications for future Extension investments and programming.
• Explore interactions with USDA ARS Climate Hub for High Plains in implementation of their educational mission.
• Draw upon the resources and experience of the U2U Regional NIFA CAP grant to explore application of those resources in Nebraska.
• Serve as a standing committee to guide Extension’s response to drought, flood, and other extreme events.

Faculty and Staff initially receiving an invitation:

Weather/climate -  Tapan Pathak, SNR Extension Educator; Tonya Bernadt, National Drought Mitigation Center; Martha Shulski, High Plains Regional Climate Center; Francisco Munoz-Arriola, Biological Systems Engineering
Risk management tools for crops, range and pasture - Monte VanDeVeer, Southeast Nebraska Extension Educator; Kate Brooks, Agricultural Economics; Jessica Johnson, Panhandle Extension Educator; Jay Parsons, Agricultural Economics
Grazing systems management –  Jerry Volesky, West Central R&E Center; Rick Rasby, Animal Science; Aaron Berger, Panhandle Extension Educator
Feedlot Systems – Matt Luebbe, Panhandle R&E Center; Rick Stowell, Biological Systems Engineering
Irrigation water management – Chuck Burr, West Central Extension Educator; Tim Shaver, West Central R&E Center ; Troy Ingram, Central Nebraska Extension Educator; Bill Kranz, Northeast R&E Center
Cropping Systems – Jeff Bradshaw, Panhandle R&E Center; Tyler Williams, West Central Nebraska Extension Educator; Tamra Ziems-Jackson, Plant Pathology; Roger Elmore, Agronomy
Urban Environments – Zac Reicher, Agronomy; Kelly Feehan,  Northeast Extension Educator; John Fech, Southeast Extension Educator
Rural community and individual water supplies – Sharon Skipton, Southeast
Forestry – Scott Josiah, Nebraska Forest Service (or his recommended NFS representative)
Media  - Lisa Jasa, Educational Media