Climate Impact on Farming
Participatory Agroecological Assessment of Farmers’ Capacity to Adapt to Climate Change in Malawi
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Darren Bardati
The author of this study developed a heuristic technique called “participatory agroecological assessment” for use by smallholder farmers in Malawi to examine their vulnerability to threats due to changing climatic conditions. Rooted in a participatory action research paradigm, the author collected data jointly with Malawian farmers near Chilanga, Kasungu District, through detailed observations of landscape and farm plot scale conditions, and through interviews with key informants over the span of four weeks in June 2016. Farmers participated in workshops to co-construct a set of twenty-four assessment indicators, based on contextually appropriate agroecological practices, to perform the assessment. The findings of the assessment provide empirical evidence about the farming system’s vulnerability to drought, while also serving as recommendations to guide farmers in their transition toward agroecological practices, thereby enhancing their adaptive capacity to climate change.
Agricultural Systems Adapting to Climate Change in the Southeastern United States: Developing and Implementing Strategies in Tennessee
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Forbes Walker
Climate change in the southeastern United States is impacting agriculture in different ways. Since 2014, a multi-disciplinary team of agricultural scientists from the University of Tennessee has been working across Tennessee to develop and implement strategies to adapt to more variable rainfall patterns. We are working closely with landowners and farmers to provide practical and cost-effective strategies for managing and coping with changes in climate patterns especially during periods of both excessive rainfall, as well as rainfall deficient and droughts. We are working with farmers to improve soil resilience in our main cropping systems (maize, soyabean and cotton), as well as our pasture-based beef production systems. Improvements in soil resilience are being achieved through the wide-scale adoption of no-till systems, in combination with the use of winter cover crops and other technologies. In pasture systems, we are diversifying our forage base with the introduction of native warm season grasses, as well as improved hay management systems to reduce winter feeding loses. This work is in part supported by a USDA NIFA Water for Agriculture grant awarded to the University of Tennessee in collaboration with Tennessee Technological University, University of Memphis, Middle Tennessee State University, and the University of Tennessee at Martin to study the effects that climate change may have on agricultural production in the Tennessee and Cumberland River Basins in the coming decade.
