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Abstract

Excerpts: The Northern Plains region (Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, and Wyoming) has a high diversity of land, including the largest remaining tracts of native rangeland in North America, substantial areas of both dryland and irrigated cropland and pasture, mosaics of cropland and grassland, and forested lands. Livestock production includes beef (cow-calf and yearling operations, feedlots), sheep, hogs, and dairy. Crop production is dominated by corn, soybeans, wheat, barley, alfalfa, and hay, but it also includes an array of other crops such as potatoes, sugar beets, dry beans, sunflowers, millet, canola, and barley. Agroforestry includes windbreaks, silvopasture, riparian forest buffers, alley cropping, and forest farms. Adaptation strategies for farmers are diverse, including selection of genetics (varieties) specifically adapted to localized conditions, using cover crops, precision planting of populations of crops, precision fertilization, precision watering/irrigation, crop sequencing within crop rotations, direct seeding into stubble, and enhancement of soil health. Adaptation strategies for ranchers include greater flexibility in the operation structure of their livestock enterprise, adaptive grazing management to match forage availability and forage demand, grass-banking to provide forage during dry/drought periods, increasing plant cover to improve soil health, utilization of seasonal temperature/precipitation and drought forecasting resources, and providing shelter to reduce thermal environmental effects associated with heat waves. Adaptation strategies for agroforestry managers include planting a more diverse set of species, selecting species that will be better adapted to predicted, future climate conditions given their long-lived nature, and strategic use of woody plants for multiple ecosystem service benefits (e.g., shading) in urban environments. The Northern Plains Regional Climate Hub is collaboratively engaged with other entities to assemble available information into tools and practices that can increase the resilience of agricultural systems to increased weather variability and a changing climate.

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