Identifying Gaps in Knowledge and Capacity to Help Farmers Adapt to a Changing Climate

Agricultural Need

Adapting to a changing climate is imperative for agriculture, yet agricultural service providers may feel ill-equipped to make recommendations about new practices and technologies that could help farmers adapt (Haigh et al., 2015; Wiener et al., 2020). Current and projected changes in weather present new opportunities and risks for agriculture in Maine (Fernandez et al., 2020) and the Northeast (Tobin et al., 2015; Wolfe et al., 2018). Longer growing seasons might allow farmers to grow new varieties and crops, but increased risks of spring frosts, summer droughts, wetter/cooler springs, and more frequent and intense rainfall pose serious threats to crop production and farm viability. In many cases, the climate adaptation practices identified by farmers and advisors in regional studies (e.g. irrigation, drainage, weather-based decision support tools especially regarding pests and diseases, information on adaptive varieties, and financial management strategies; Johnson et al., 2019; White et al., 2018) require new knowledge and skills, not just for farmers but also for their service providers.

Proposed Solution

In this one-year project, we conducted a comprehensive needs assessment to identify agricultural service providers’ knowledge gaps and training needs as related to helping farmers adapt to climate change. The primary purpose was to guide the development of a 3-year SARE PDP plan for Maine (submitted in April 2021) that focused on building service provider capacity in specific climate adaptation practices. We collaborated with Dr. Rachel Schattman, a new UMaine faculty member with expertise in climate change adaptation and needs assessment methods, to expand the scope of this work to the Northeast.

The needs assessment had two components: a region-wide online survey and one Maine farm tour/focus groups. We distributed the survey to 5,477 eligible participants in the Northeast, including Extension professionals, certified crop consultants, federal and state agency employees, non-profit organization employees, regional planning commissions, and local economic development councils from January 14 to March 5, 2021. Five hundred eighty-four agricultural service providers responded. Of those, 381 were considered valid responses in that they completed at least 50% of the survey and indicated that they provide direct technical support or other services to farm operators on a regular basis. Among respondents who said they work with Maine farmers, 61 responded to the survey and 55 completed it. Their primary affiliations were: Extension (47%), non-profit (23%), private consultants (13%), Federal/NRCS (6%), Conservation District (4%), State agency (4%), and Other (4%).

Over 70% of the respondents who work with Maine farmers rated drought, extreme precipitation events, and changes in water availability as severe or major risks associated with climate change. Flooding and saturated soils, soil erosion, frost or freeze events, high temperatures, higher insect and disease pressure, and new insect pests and diseases were also rated as severe or major climate change risks by half of these respondents.

Seventy-six percent of the respondents who work with Maine farmers disagreed with the statement that “farmers do not need additional support to address climate change.” While 80% said they are interested in helping farmers address climate change but only about half said they currently have knowledge, skills, and confidence to help farmers address climate change on their farms. The respondents reported being least confident in providing recommendations to farmers about investing in irrigation and water source development; ditching, water diversion, drainage tiles, and other ways to address too much water; and using weather-based decision tools. They listed the following topics as ones they would be interested in learning more about: practices to cope with too little and too much water, including irrigation; economics of adaptation and mitigation strategies; business planning for climate adaptation and new pest and disease pressures.

The farm tour and focus group was conducted on August 25 in Presque Isle. Twelve agricultural service providers from across Maine participated in the morning tour of water sourcing and irrigation systems on a large broccoli operation that was led by one of the farmer owners and his irrigation consultant. A two-hour guided focus group discussion with eleven of those participants followed in the afternoon. Participants emphasized that the need for irrigation technical assistance is increasing in the state due to climate change but that current agricultural service providers do not necessarily have the knowledge or capacity needed to adequately serve this need. They noted that the diversity of operations in the state in terms of scale and type of farm creates a diversity of technical assistance need related to water management. They also noted that some types of assistance, like water source development and irrigation system design, is needed infrequently and can be referred to specialists whereas other types of assistance, like irrigation management, is ongoing and often requested of more general service providers. Finally, the importance of soil health for water management and efficient irrigation was emphasized, as was the underutilization of technology to manage irrigation.

Agricultural Service Provider Interest

Among the Maine respondents, 83% indicated they would be likely (55%) or extremely likely (28%) to participate in professional development opportunities to improve their ability to help farmers adapt to climate change. Interest was equal among respondents who work with mixed vegetable farmers, field crop farmers, and livestock farmers. The Maine respondents were asked to list other topics of interest for a state professional development program but none had as much support as climate adaptation practices.

Respondents preferred to engage in professional development in the following ways: in person (88%), online synchronous (62%), online asynchronous (23%), and printed material (13%). In responding to an open-ended question about the most effective professional development opportunities they have experienced, the most common responses included hands-on and on-farm activities, having farmers involved, in-depth learning, and mixing individual and group learning. A number of respondents mentioned the Reading the Farm program as an effective model.