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Through project-based learning, students will work in groups to design an agritourism experience that will increase profits for a family-owned farm and provide agricultural literacy opportunities for community members. Grades 6-8

Many agricultural producers are able to transform their farming operations into tourist destinations and open their doors to the public. Agritourism is an increasingly popular way for farmers and ranchers to not only increase profits, but also provide experiences that increase agricultural literacy. Examples of agritourism include farmers markets, farm tours, children's educational day camps, overnight bed and breakfasts, wagon rides, horse-back riding, petting farms, vineyards, rural event centers, and pick-your-own produce opportunities.

Agricultural producers should consider the agritourism experience they'd like to start, how it will bring in initial and repeat customers, location and geography, and nearby competition. Potential risks and hazards should also be considered, including farm biosecurity, liability, and any regulations.

Brandon Gerard has operated Peak of Abundance farm in the Spokane Valley for six years. Peak of Abundance grows greens, root vegetables, beans, eggplant, garlic, sweet peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes. Brandon sells his produce through Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) at LINC Foods (Local Inland Northwest Cooperative) and at local farmers markets. When possible, he contributes to the We Feed Washington program, which provides emergency food for people experiencing hunger through partnerships with local producers.

The impacts of climate change can present a daunting challenge to beginning urban farmers in the Northwest who already face challenges, from high startup costs to difficultly purchasing land. Brandon has implemented creative methods of addressing the challenges of climate change while protecting and enriching his crops and land. Some of his climate-resilient management decisions include using high tunnels, shade cloths, and drip irrigation. High tunnels protect his crops from storms, particularly windstorms, and drip irrigation conserves water and protects crops from drought. Shade cloths protect vulnerable crops during extreme heat events. Brandon also uses no-till or minimal tillage and locally produced, organic compost as much as possible.

Recently, Brandon added an automatic ventilation fan to his greenhouse to improve crop resiliency to extreme weather. Automatic ventilation can be set to turn on at a certain temperature, so when a farmer is out of town or busy, the ventilation can cool the greenhouse or high tunnel automatically. Brandon plans to add automatic ventilation to one of his high tunnels this year.

An EQIP contract funded his first few high tunnels, and a second contract is going to fund three new tunnels, including a 20 x 80 ft temperature-controlled high tunnel for cucumbers and tomatoes. He discovered the opportunity through his local Natural Resource Conservation Service agent. Brandon encourages farmers to apply for more than one EQIP contract if they qualify.

USDA Urban Agriculture Programs at a Glance brochure provides information about funding, marketing, and expanding food access for urban farms and gardens. The Urban Agriculture Toolkit lays out the common operational elements that most urban farmers must consider as they start or grow their operations.

Moderate or severe drought is prevailing through much of the Cornbelt and many areas of Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska are experiencing extreme drought. Although the degree to which drought will affect 2023 crop prices is still uncertain, research on historical impacts of extreme heat[1] on farm profitability provides evidence that Kansas farms could be impacted by increasing frequency and extremity of severe weather in the future.

While Kansas farmers are no strangers to adverse weather, extreme heat has been increasing in Kansas over the last few decades. Figure 1 shows that extreme degree-days, henceforth referred as EDD (a measure used by researchers to account for both the duration and intensity of temperatures above a threshold, defined as 32 degrees Celsius or 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit in our study)[2], have increased over the past 4 decades across Kansas. Kansas had an average of 54 EDDs per year in the growing season (April-Sept) from 1981-1990, which increased to 57 EDDs during 2011-2020. Meanwhile, USDA reports total net cash income for Kansas farms has ranged from $1.5 billion to nearly $6 billion since 2000, which reflects both price and yield volatility. Given that weather volatility and droughts are expected to increase (Masson-Delmotte, 2021), we have sought to quantify the historic relationship between farm income and extreme heat, as well as factors that have historically mitigated the impacts of extreme heat. Our research shows Kansas farm income is very sensitive to extreme heat. However, both (1) farm practices and (2) crop insurance have partially mitigated the impacts of extreme heat historically.

Note: 32 degrees Celsius is equivalent to 89.6 degrees Fahrenheit; this study uses a measure of extreme degree-days that accounts for both the period of time over this threshold and level above this threshold.

We use panel econometric methods to analyze the impact of extreme heat (EDD) on different measures of farm income[3]. This analysis controls for farm-specific factors and characteristics, as well as local precipitation (rain) and year, which accounts for changes in commodity markets, policies, etc. that are common across all farms. To understand the degree to which farm practices and policies play a role in mitigating extreme heat, we use the same modeling approach to analyze the impact of extreme heat on inventories, government payments, and crop insurance. We also quantified the role of irrigation access in buffering extreme heat. More details on our methodology can be found here.

Farms that have access to irrigation may be less affected by extreme heat. A significant portion of western Kansas overlaps with the High Plains Aquifer (Figure 2), allowing us to examine the buffering impacts of irrigation to net income loss under extreme heat conditions. We found that highly irrigated farms experience approximately 37% less net income loss compared to other farms. Kansas is currently facing declining groundwater availability and biophysical and regulatory limitations on water availability are likely to restrict irrigation in the future.

Our findings are consistent with the experience of Kansas farmers, many of whom experienced extreme drought in 2022. Average 2022 farm income, as reported by the Kansas Farm Management Association (KFMA), was near the 5-year average and higher than 2018 and 2019. This was partially due to crop insurance and government payments accounting for 72% of accrual net farm income for KFMA farms. However, substantial regional variation occurred across the state: net insurance payouts were negative[5] for the average KFMA farm in northeast Kansas, which was much less affected by drought. On the other hand, crop insurance payouts made up nearly all of net farm income for KFMA farms in northwest and southeast Kansas, which experienced extreme drought.

Kansas farm income is highly sensitive to extreme heat. This impact is partially mitigated by both farm practices and crop insurance. From a policy perspective, crop insurance is working as designed and shields producers from some of the effects of extreme heat or extreme weather more generally. However, as with any policy intervention, there may be positive or negative unintended consequences. Whether government policy impedes the long-term adaptation of U.S. agriculture to extreme weather is an ongoing debate. Our research shows that the financial impact of extreme heat is high, suggesting that projected increases in extreme heat could pose risks to gross and net farm income. Further, the financial impact of weather shocks on farm operations is transmitted to lenders, insurance companies, the Federal Crop Insurance Program, agribusiness, and rural communities. How producer, industry, and government actions play a role in facilitating adaptation to extreme weather is an important topic for future research and policy design.

[3] Gross farm income captures all sources of farm income in a year and net farm income is gross farm income less expenses. These are accrual measures of income and include government payments, crop insurance payments, and any income earned (or lost) through inventory adjustment.

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The WEATHER Act works to better support farmers facing income losses after extreme weather events by reducing administrative hurdles and ensuring that insurance payouts are based on agricultural income losses. The legislation would direct the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) to use its insurance R&D authority to research the possibility of developing an index-based insurance program that:

Changes in climate and more extreme weather are already increasing challenges for agriculture and natural resource managers nationally and globally. Many of these challenges are expected to continue into the future. e24fc04721