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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Ames, Iowa » National Laboratory for Agriculture and The Environment » Soil, Water & Air Resources Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #416185
Research Project: The USDA ARS Climate Hubs – Increasing Agricultural Productivity and Sustainability by Impactful Development and Communication of Climate Smart Agricultural Research and Practices – Ames, Iowa

Location: Soil, Water & Air Resources Research

Title: Interpreting extension professionals' viewpoints on agricultural climate change programming

Author
item WILSON, AARON - The Ohio State University
item WENMAN, ALLI - University Of Wisconsin
item PRATSCH, SAMUEL - University Of Wisconsin
item GENSKOW, KEN - University Of Wisconsin
item ROBINSON, PATRICK - University Of Wisconsin
item Todey, Dennis
item Nowatzke, Laurie
item TAKU-FORCHU, NAMAH - University Of Wisconsin
item Wanyakha, Moses

Submitted to: Journal of Extension
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 8/14/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Climate change information must be shared for agriculture to adapt to changing climate conditions and to help agriculture reduce its contributions to future climate change (usually called mitigation). Staff at major agricultural universities who do stakeholder outreach (officially named Extension at Land Grant Universities) are among the local agricultural advisers who can engage with local producers to help their decision-making capability. Several issues limit Extension staff's ability to share information. We identify some of the limitations of engaging staff from the Midwestern land grant systems, and we address possible future methods for engaging through the Climate Ready Midwest project and additional future work. This work will be of interest to other Extension, university staff, federal employees and other non-federal advisers who engage with the public about climate and agricultural issues. The Midwest Climate Hub, other Climate Hubs and other partners will benefit from the summary of difficulties in communication about climate and agriculture in the Midwest.

Technical Abstract: We evaluated Extension professionals' attitudes and beliefs from Midwestern “1862” land-grant universities around three themes: prioritizing climate programming, farmers’ perceptions, and the role of Extension leadership in building capacity to integrate climate change into programs. Using key informant interviews and a two-hour virtual workshop, we developed ‘coordinate planes' to illustrate the tensions and contradictions among the three themes, with participants expressing highly diverse viewpoints across the region. Results identify the need for Extension leadership to support multi-state programs and shared resources that provide consistent guidance and expectations around climate change programming while recognizing the intrinsic state context and values.