AgClimate: A Research Extension Partnership Clyde Fraisse University of Florida IFAS Extension

Agriculture Industry Increasingly information dependent Operates in a global economy Constant technological shifts Extremely sensitive to changes in natural systems (climate, soil, hydrology)

Making Decisions Requires the understanding of a wide range of scientific and technical information! Markets Weather Climate? Agronomics What? ENSO Phase?

Why via Extension? Boundary between science and decision making Facilitates the dialogue between farmers and scientists –Encourage research agendas – Translate scientific information into practical language and guidance

AgClimate.org Web-based system being developed in partnership with Extension by the South East Climate Consortium (SECC) with support from NOAA and USDA- RMA Will deliver climate-related information for decision makers in agriculture and natural resources

Being developed with frequent interactions with extension county agents to enhance contents and user- friendliness

Each commodity will be populated with information related to climate, yield analysis based on historical data and crop model simulations, and also links to other extension resources, industry and market sites.

Climate-based Tools Being developed first as stand alone PC-based to allow interaction with extension and farmers for evaluation and improvements: –Climate Tool –Simulated Yield –Historical Yield

What we have learned (examples) Farmers want specific & concise information, language used!!! El Niño, La Niña, ENSO may not mean anything Timing of information may be more important than accuracy Having historical weather and yield together with climate and yield forecast is very appealing

Extension Partnership Sense of ownership by extension agents will increase likelihood of use Assurance that information delivered is useful and language used adequate Provide feedback on new potential applications of climate forecast