Abstract
Mitigating drought’s impact on agricultural production is a key part of any food security and economic stabilization plan. While most agricultural producers periodically experience abnormally dry periods that sometimes limit production, extreme or exceptional droughts may occur infrequently enough that management strategies are unfamiliar, outdated, or untested in a particular set of circumstances. While information to spatially delineate and characterize the effects of a drought is important, the real payoff comes from providing drought-affected individuals with recommendations on how to best manage their situation, and for them to actually adopt these practices. In crop production the ramifications are many: decisions related to crop choice, hybrid/variety selection, tillage, pest management, fertilization/crop nutrient strategies, harvest, crop quality and utilization, insurance, and the like. Livestock producers face their own acute concerns. The decision-makers and decision-influencers in agriculture are geographically dispersed and exist within the agribusiness retail channel, academic, consulting, and producer networks. Assembling a set of resources that also includes identifying individuals to deliver through a variety of outreach modes will expedite our preparedness to manage future drought events.
Date of this Version
6-22-2011