Developing agricultural solutions for the Southern Plains: Responding to climate change and resource constraints

Authors: LACEWELL, RON - Texas A&M University; Brown, David

Submitted to: Grazinglands Research Laboratory Miscellaneous Publication
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/13/2018
Publication Date: 3/1/2018
Citation: Lacewell, R., Brown, D.P. 2018. Developing agricultural solutions for the Southern Plains: responding to climate change and resource constraints. Resilient Southern Plains Agriculture and Forestry in a Varying and Changing Climate. July 18-19, 2017, El Reno, OK. Available at: http://twri.tamu.edu/el-reno.

Interpretive Summary: In July 2017, the Resilient Southern Plains Agriculture and Forestry in a Varying and Changing Climate conference reviewed the status and needs for the future in the Southern Plains relative to irrigation and dryland farming, range and livestock, confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs), and forestry. Participants included stakeholders, researchers, and extension faculty as well agencies’ representatives. This roadmap outlines general and sector-specific research and extension needs, existing science and program capacity, and foundational considerations identified by these participants to address future challenges presented by climate variability and change on production agriculture in the Southern Plains.

Technical Abstract: In July 2017, a conference entitled Resilient Southern Plains Agriculture and Forestry in a Varying and Changing Climate was held in El Reno, OK. The goal of the conference was to bring together stakeholders, researchers, and extension faculty to identify regional research and extension priorities and develop a 10-year strategic roadmap for ensuring resilient agricultural and forestry systems in the face of varying and changing climatic patterns. A conference report and accompanying white papers are available at http://twri.tamu.edu/el-reno. This roadmap, which follows directly from the initial work of the 2017 conference, is targeted at the development of research and extension priorities for agriculture and forestry in the Southern Plains states of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Production agriculture in the Southern Plains is characterized by both environmental and economic risk, including variations and changes in weather, climate, commodity prices, technological innovations, population growth, water demand, and management practices. It is incumbent upon the region’s leading research and extension programs to invest in science and adaptive management efforts, particularly those that are multidisciplinary and systems-based, that can be readily transferred to production agriculture. Questions regarding crop and grazing management choices, changing geographic distribution of agricultural systems, diversification of operations, and risk reduction are examples of those that need to be considered in light of the above risks. This roadmap, and the accompanying foundation laid at the 2017 El Reno conference, will serve as a guide for addressing many of these issues.