Cornell Climate Stewards

In December, 2014, CICCA Executive Director, Mike Hoffmann gave a talk about climate change and future risks. This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. Stymied about what to do about climate change? Mike Hoffmann of Cornell University, encourages us to become aware, accept the reality, and then act by raising our voices to address this grand challenge facing our generation…and those that follow.

Watch the full TEDx Talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIeU001iYTo

Mike Hoffman holds a leadership position in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Cornell University. His role focuses on sustainability, in particular responding to the threat of climate change. Mike also leads a Northeastern U.S. and Eastern Canada climate change initiative, and established an Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture that helps food growers adapt to changing conditions. His passionate messages about climate change include its impacts on the world around us and its meaning to future generations. He hopes his involvement in TEDxChemungRiver will help spread the word about climate change and how to address this challenge now facing humanity. Mike grew up on a small (one cow) dairy farm in Wisconsin where one of his best friends was a crow.

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Agriculture is one of the major causes of climate change. Soil erosion, methane from livestock, and exhaust from tractors are major sources of greenhouse gases.

Last week, Governor Cuomo announced a $1.4 million grant program to help farmers in New York reduce their greenhouse emissions. Farmers can apply for projects to help them better manage water, soil, and waste.

Allison Chatrchyan, director of the Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture at Cornell University, said programs like these are critical to help farmers conerve more energy through by installing solar panels or anaerobic digesters. She said, “It’s really important for farmers to play a role, as everyone should be, to reduce their carbon footprint.”

Farmers in New York are also already reacting to the effects of climate change. According to Chatrchyan, the number of heavy precipitation events is up almost 75 percent in the Northeast and most farmers are conscious of the changes, but need help adapting. “They realize that there’s more extreme rainfall and they realize that there can be more heat stress days and high temperatures, but they need to know what to do about it,” Chatrchyan said. The institute has set up a website to help farmers adapt.

Allison Chatrchyan: If a farmer has just planted their seed—I talked to a farmer in Central New York who actually had just planted seed—it was very difficult for them to get into the field because it was so wet all spring. When they finally got into the field and planted seed, they got a very, very heavy rainfall; I think it was four to five inches in 24 hours, and all their seed washed off. They lost probably more than $50,000. So there are huge economic impacts.

David Sommerstein: And it’s sometimes harder to get in the fields to plough sometimes early in the spring. I’ve talked with dairy farmers whose fields have just been far wet for far too long before they can even get those fields plowed.

AC:  Right.

DS: Now what are you doing in talking with these farmers to help them start to adapt to some of these changes.

AC: What we’ve heard from farmers is that they need more specific information about what they can do to adapt. They realize there is more extreme rainfall and they realize there can be more heat stress days, and high temperatures, but they need to know what to do about it.

So, we are working with Cornell researchers to take the data that we have from applied research and develop models, and then develop these online decision support tools. So for example, we are now in the process of developing a growing degree-day tool that will show three things. It will show: where you are in the current growing degree-day, season this year, how does that compare to the last few seasons or the weather over the last 100 years, and then give you the projections for climate change. In the next 20, 30, 50 years, how is that going to change? So a farmer can make some decisions right now about this season, and also compare to how it’s changing over the last couple seasons. And then start thinking about long-term decisions. That’s just one of the tools. We are also developing a frost risk tool that will be really important for fruit growers.

DS: Let me ask you a question about the other side of this issue. Agriculture is one of the large sources of carbon emissions and therefore a cause of climate change. What kinds of things are farmers doing, or are you helping farmers to do to mitigate that?

AC: That’s a really great point. Our cooperative extension offices can provide information to farmers about grants that are available or conducting energy audit, thinking about energy conservation on their farm, or applying for grants to put in solar panels or anaerobic digesters on their farm. So, it is really important for farmers to play a role, as everyone should be, to reduce their carbon footprint

DS:  We you talk with farmers about these changes, do they recognize it as climate change, or are there some who push back against that idea?

AC:  We found that 82 percent of New York State residents believe the climate is changing. There hasn’t been a similar survey yet of farmers, but we’re hoping to conduct it in New York. In general, nationally, we’ve also found that a vast majority of farmers believe that climate is changing. And so maybe the misconception is that farmers are skeptical about climate change. Many of them may be still, maybe, but they do know that the weather is getting more extreme and we know that is caused by climate change, and many are already doing things to adapt.

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By David Sommerstein

The Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture was a proud sponsor of the 2nd International Conference on Global Food Security, which took place from October 11th-14th at Cornell University.

The conference addressed the food system activities of processing, distributing and consuming food, as well as food production from crop, livestock, tree, freshwater and marine sources; the availability, access, utilization and stability dimensions of food security; and the synergies and trade-offs between economic, environmental, health and social objectives and outcomes. The conference ranged across disciplines and spatiotemporal scales of analysis to span the drivers, activities and outcomes of food systems to encompass both contextualized and holistic treatments of the broad challenge of food security. The conference delivered state-of-the-art analysis, inspiring visions and innovative methods arising from research in a wide range of disciplines.

To learn more visit their website at: http://www.globalfoodsecurityconference.com/index.html

Cornell University will be hosting the Dairy Environmental Systems and Climate Adaptation Conference from July 29-31, 2015. This two-day regional conference will feature a unique opportunity to learn about regional climate trends and national and international drivers, along with emerging dairy housing and manure management systems and, adaptation strategies for agriculture in the Northeast and upper Midwest.

Nestlé’s Corporate Head of Agriculture in Switzerland, Hans Jöhr, will be delivering the Keynote Address for the conference. Jöhr is responsible for providing technical and strategic leadership for Nestlé’s world-wide agricultural raw material supply chain. Active in all facets of agri-business, and having grown up on a family farm, Mr. Jöhr has extensive experience based on several long-term international assignments and additionally has consulted in over 40 countries.

Jöhr will discuss the role of climate change with respect to global agricultural policy decision making, and will highlight the importance of planning for and adapting to perceived changes in climate and their impact on production agriculture. This event will take place on Wednesday, July 29^th from 7:00-8:00 pm in the Statler Auditorium at Cornell University, and is open to the public. There will an ice cream social to follow.

The conference is being co-hosted and co-organized by Cornell’s PRO-DAIRY Program: Dairy Environmental Systems Group; the Cornell Institute for Climate Change and Agriculture; the Animal Agriculture and Climate Change Project, Sustainable Dairy Cap Project (USDA-NIFA); and the New York State Energy Research and Development Agency (NYSERDA). For conference details or to register, visit: http://prodairy.cals.cornell.edu/dairy-climate-conference.