Climate Change Challenges for Iowa Agriculture over the Next Three Decades

This talk will provide a brief overview of changes in the global climate and why they are happening.  Iowa’s climate also in changing in ways that are both favorable and detrimental to agriculture. These past and current trends in temperature, precipitation, and extreme events will be described and used in connection with currently used climate science methods to describe Iowa’s future climate trends over the next few decades. These future climate change conditions, rather than conditions of the 20th century, need to be considered for building infrastructure, managing water resources, producing food, anticipating human health care needs and protecting our natural environment to build a more resilient future.