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Resiliency is a word very much in vogue these days and it is an important concept for farm management. Achieving resiliency for a farm requires one to consider all aspects of the farm: land, labor, capital and management.
In April, the National Weather Service climate prediction center predicted the mid-Atlantic would be slightly cooler than normal in the May-July period and this forecast proved correct with May and June two and five degrees below normal respectively and July was right on average. This is in stark contrast to our neighbors in the Southwestern U.S. Exceptionally high temperatures were also experienced May through July in many parts of the world, including Argentina and Chile in the Southern Hemisphere where July is the depth of winter. Parts of Southern Argentina have experienced temperatures above 90F where it normally does not get above 55F in July.
Here is the point: it is highly likely in the next year to 10 years Rockbridge will have its turn or turns at extremely high temperatures. Now is the time to be building greater resiliency in our farm systems. Maintaining healthy vegetative cover on pastures and crop fields and incorporating vigorously healthy trees into our farm systems are perhaps the top two land management decisions that can contribute to the resiliency of our farm systems. Peer-reviewed science suggests these land management strategies can also moderate temperatures for an entire region when applied on enough acres.
Also important are contingency plans for cooling animals and meeting their nutritional needs when exceptionally hot conditions might impede their normal behaviors and patterns. Cash reserves and contingencies for alternative water and power also fit into a farm’s resiliency planning.
I have many friends and clientele in Rockbridge whom I greatly respect and value who very likely quit reading this column before they reached the end of the second paragraph. Science can be complex and seem contradictory but my mission as your Extension agent is to help deliver answers utilizing the best science can offer, even when folks don’t want to hear it.
Our planet’s climate system is being seriously disrupted and those of us doing our best to steward precious farm and forest resources in Rockbridge must take heed. Climate disruption is likely to bring maddening and contradictory extremes. Science is indicating that while the risk of extreme heat events is real, the possibility of an extreme snow or cold event remains, at least for now, and we have already seen this in the United States.
Aspects of resiliency often require redundancy and redundancy is inefficient and expensive. But opportunities exist too. While we certainly must have empathy for people in other regions that experience loss due to climate extremes, it is vital the diverse capacity of our own region retain the capacity to engage in food and fiber production.
For more information on natural resource resiliency planning specific to your farm or forest, contact me, Tom Stanley, at the Rockbridge Extension Office or by email at [email protected].
