A map highlighting the Midwest states in the U.S., including Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.

Extension and USDA Climate Hubs Work to Build a Climate-Resilient Midwest

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Climate change represents an ongoing challenge for Midwestern agriculture, and in turn, presents opportunities for innovation. To foster new ideas and collaboration, the National Institute for Food and Agriculture (NIFA) has funded 18 projects nationally since 2022 in the amount of $23.5 million to bolster partnerships between the USDA Climate Hubs and Cooperative Extension Services. Three of these projects operate within the Midwest to build partnerships, relationships, and collaborations for agricultural resilience in the face of climate change. The Midwest-centered projects include developing roadmaps for Extension climate programming (the focus of this blog series, Climate Ready Midwest); a training fellowship for farmers and agricultural advisors (The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship); and a multi-disciplinary approach to visioning a climate-resilient future and determining the state of the science for climate-smart agriculture (Integrated Midwest Partnerships for Actionable Climate Tools and Training).

Climate Ready Midwest

What would a road to robust climate programming look like in Extension? Led by Dr. Aaron Wilson of The Ohio State University, this effort engages researchers and educators from Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin to tackle this question. This blog has covered several of Climate Ready Midwest’s early accomplishments, including key informant interviews and listening sessions with Extension professionals and visioning sessions with Extension leadership and the Midwest Climate Hub. Many of this project’s findings will support, inform, and augment Extension curricula and programs, including the Climate Ready Farm Assessment Tool.

A map highlighting the Midwest states in the U.S., including Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Wisconsin, Illinois, Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio.
A map showing the region covered by the USDA Midwest Climate Hub and serviced by the projects mentioned in this article.

The Climate Adaptation and Mitigation Fellowship (CAMF)

Can we continue to innovate in agricultural extension? How might we refine educational programs for adult learners? CAMF employs the latest research in adult learning to create an exciting space for climate training, storytelling, and peer-to-peer support. CAMF boosts its focus on community by pairing farmer participants with agricultural advisor participants. Together, the pairs receive formal training in climate science, climate communications, and on-farm planning for dealing with climate risks. The fellows also conduct climate-related outreach in their own communities as trusted information sources among their peers. CAMF is led by Dr. Rachel Schattman at University of Maine and operates in the Midwest and Northeast regions.

Integrated Midwest Partnerships for Actionable Climate Tools and Training (IMPACT^2)

What does a climate-resilient farm look like? IMPACT^2 researchers are using tabletop games to conduct visioning sessions with farmers, conservation professionals, and agricultural service providers. With these games, the players help us better understand how farmers deal with extreme weather events, balance economic decisions, and weigh conflicting tradeoffs. Meanwhile, another IMPACT^2 team will conduct listening sessions with scientific experts to gather the current science of “climate-smart” practices. These two teams will work hand-in-hand to deliver the current science in a format that is useful and usable for farmers and agricultural advisors. Ultimately, these efforts will inform new Extension resources and tools for climate resilience in the Midwest. IMPACT^2 is led by Linda Prokopy of Purdue University and the full team includes collaborators from across the Corn Belt.

These projects represent a snapshot of climate programming and research in our region. While each has a slightly different focus, together, they demonstrate the potential for a more comprehensive collaboration between Extension and the Climate Hubs. Long term, we expect that the knowledge and tools developed through these projects, in the hands of Extension educators, specialists, our producer-serving partners, and the producers themselves, will help on-farm decision making that builds resilience in the face of climate change. Additional information about the grant program and the midwest projects listed above is available at this link.

Return to this blog for future updates, lessons learned, and accomplishments.

How can I stay updated?

We will post regular blog posts on this website to share progress and project deliverables, just like this post. Sign up to be notified about future blog posts! 

If you are interested in learning more or collaborating on any of this work, please reach out to Alli Parrish, project manager, at alparrish@wisc.edu or Aaron Wilson, project director, at wilson.1010@osu.edu.