Climate and Weather Data for the Farmer's Site Specific Toolkit
Interannual climate variability causes high uncertainty on a farmer’s management decisions as weather and climate have a direct impact on crop yield, or through indirect effects such as changes in pests and pathogens dynamics, fertilizer efficiency, and prices.
Therefore, a better understanding of the potential impacts that seasonal climate variability may have on crop growth and final yield as well as how to adjust management based on climate and weather forecasts are key for production risks mitigation. Current climate-based research and extension efforts in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina aim for a better understanding of the of climate variability drivers in the region, use of seasonal climate and short-term weather forecasts as tools for site-specific management, identification of climate adaptation and mitigation strategies with increased chance of adoption by producers, assessment of information needs by decision-makers, and the development of climate and weather-based management decision support tools. A review of the current research findings linked to climate-based adaptation strategies for corn, cotton, peanuts and wheat planted in the Southeast will be presented. A description of the participatory approach to engaging with agricultural stakeholders in the Southeast will be described. In addition, an overview of the current climate and weather-based decision support tools available in Agroclimate.org, the main climate information delivery platform of the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC), will be presented.
Biography: Brenda V. Ortiz with a Ph.D. is in Agricultural Engineering from The University of Georgia is currently an Assistant Professor in the Department of Agronomy and Soils Department at Auburn University (USA). Dr. Ortiz is responsible for research and extension in Grain Crops, Precision Agriculture and Agroclimatology. She has particular expertise in crop growth modeling, spatial statistics and remote sensing. During the last years she has been focusing on studying the impact of weather and climate on row and forage crops, use of crop growth modeling to evaluate different management strategies for improving row crops production, evaluation of different management practices to reduce aflatoxin contamination in corn, and the use of remote sensing technologies for variable rate application of nitrogen. She is currently leading the Climate Extension program of the Alabama Cooperative Extension System.
<< Return to conference program