Indiana State Climate Office at INFBCON 2019

December 13, 2019

Annual Indiana Farm Bureau Conference

The Indiana State Climate Office (IN-SCO) partnered with the Purdue Climate Change Research Center and the USDA Midwest Climate Hub to co-host a panel session on “Building Resilience to Changing Weather”.  Planting decisions, fertilizer application, seed varieties, equipment investments, harvest timing … these are all affected by changing weather patterns across Indiana.  This session took a look at long-term weather trends (presentation is in Google Folder), possible future impacts, and management strategies to help producers stay productive in a variable climate.  The farmer discussion panel featured Jennie Hodgen (AgrInstitute), Ben Wicker (Director, Indiana Agriculture Nutrient Alliance), Tom McKinney (President, McKinney & McKinney farms), and Jesse Uebelhor (Superior Ag Resource).

At the Innovation Showcase, the IN-SCO participated in the presentation of multiple ways in which weather and field operations could be observed through the use of drone technology, being a volunteer observer for the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow (CoCoRaHS) network, and encouraging the growth of an Indiana mesonet (network of weather observation sites around the state co-managed and operated by Purdue University and Indiana University.