Producer Guides to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
NOAA’s National Integrated Drought Information System (NIDIS) helped fund the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Southeast Climate Hub to create and provide resources for agricultural producers in the Southeast U.S. to prepare, respond, and recover from future drought events to minimize impacts.
This project identified critical dates and prescribed actions to optimize agricultural production practices during drought in the Southeast. These dates and actions are tied to specific growth stages to inform needed shifts in the Southeast commodity production cycle during droughts. An advisory committee of representatives from agricultural colleges and universities in the Southeast provided subject-matter expertise for the outputs of this project.
The outputs of this project are based on the following:
- Exploring impacts of environmental stress: Understanding how environmental stress has resulted in changing commodity management in the Southeast and other regions.
- Changing commodity management: Identifying and prioritizing commercially important commodities that can best benefit from adaptation strategies that build resilience to drought, help maintain productivity, and speed up recovery.
- Preparing for drought events: Working with subject matter experts to curate a list of weather and climate information products, as well as commodity-based decision points and suggested actions before, during, and after a drought event.
For more information, contact Elliot Wickham (elliot.wickham@noaa.gov).
Research Snapshot
Steve McNulty, formerly USDA Southeast Climate Hub
Michael Gavazzi, USDA Southeast Climate Hub
What to expect from this research
The outputs of this research provide drought planning and recovery commodity guides for commercially important crops in the Southeast. These drought guides build upon the current USDA Southeast Climate Hub’s Hurricane Preparation and Recovery Commodity Guides, providing similar agricultural preparedness guides for hydrologic extremes.
These guides provide resources on:
- Building resilience for identified commercially important crops
- Implementing adaptive management practices during a drought to minimize impacts
- Coordinating crop assessment and recovery efforts post-drought event.
USDA will share these commodity guides with working land managers and technical service providers through outreach events. The research team will also begin co-hosting webinars with the North Carolina State Climate Office to train Extension agents and other technical service providers how to communicate the management recommendations in the guides.
Available guides:
- Beef: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Forage: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Soybean: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Tomato, Pepper, and Eggplant: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
Forthcoming guides:
- Watermelon: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Corn: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Cotton: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Dairy: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Peanut: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Poultry: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
- Tobacco: Producer's Guide to Drought Preparation, Management, and Recovery in the Southeastern United States
