DeKalb, IL – A unique research project pairs NIU’s atmospheric and communication scientists with regional farmers.
Together, they’ll tackle what can be a formidable foe—severe weather patterns.
NIU’s scientists hope to provide insight on weather forecasting and develop tools and resources to help farmers deal with future weather perils.
But first and foremost, they intend to listen.
“We’re trying to put our ears to the ground,” said NIU Professor Walker Ashley, an atmospheric scientist and disaster geographer in the Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment. “The goal here is to listen first so we can tailor our research to make sure it has the best bang for the buck for the farmers.”
Walker Ashley
Through focus groups and surveys, NIU’s scientists intend to gain a better understanding of where farmers receive their weather information and how they use it. They also will engage with farmers to bridge any knowledge gaps and understand their perspectives on the changing climate.
To begin the two-year research project, Ashley and NIU Meteorology Associate Professor Victor Gensini were awarded $660,000 in Community Project Funding as part of the passage of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. The project, entitled “Understanding and Mitigating Future Weather and Climate Risks to American Agriculture,” was selected and supported by former Illinois Congressman Adam Kinzinger.
The award provides funding for several undergraduate students and up to four graduate students to work on the project.
Ashley and Gensini also will work with Department of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment assistant professors Alex Haberlie and Allison Michaelis, as well as associate professors Shupei Yuan, and Emily McKee.
Yuan teaches public relations and science communication in the Department of Communication, while McKee is jointly appointed with NIU’s Anthropology Department and the Institute for the Study of Environment, Sustainability and Energy.
As communications and social scientists, Yuan and McKee are teaming up with graduate students to conduct interviews, form focus groups and survey a variety of farmers, ranging from small-scale farmers to those in corporate agriculture.
The effort will not only garner valuable information for scientists, it will create a partnership between farmers and NIU’s scientists.
“We’re going to use this opportunity to really connect with them and understand their needs,” Yuan said. “We want to bridge a network between the scientific community and the public so farmers can gain scientific knowledge to help with their decision making.”
Working with the DeKalb County Farm Bureau and the Illinois Farm Bureau, the scientists will begin focusing on at least 30 regional farmers, with plans to expand their survey throughout Illinois and into North Dakota, where one of the graduate students working on the project has a family farm.
“I think there’s unique science in the spectrum of people out there,” Ashley said. “It could be an apple orchard on the south side of DeKalb or a pumpkin farm, or it could be large-scale corn and soybean farms.”
Having studied the challenges faced by small- to mid-scale farmers and the shifting landscapes of local food systems, Professor McKee said today’s food system is vulnerable for many reasons, including current and future weather trends. The scientists hope to address the deleterious effects of extreme weather on crop production and related food systems.
“If what we’re doing can help to make our food system more resilient, that would be amazing,” McKee said.
As NIU’s scientists identify and connect with a range of farmers, they’re also inviting any farmers interested in contributing to the research to provide input.
They want to know the type of scientific information that would enable farmers to better deal with extreme weather patterns, such as near-term modeling of thunderstorms, drought and flooding to mid- and late-century projections of climate in Northern Illinois and across the Corn Belt.
“NIU is in the heart of amazing laboratory—the Corn Belt—which is home to one of the most productive agricultural regions of anywhere in the world,” Ashley said. “We’re most interested in studying how the farmers in this region consume and use weather and climate information beyond just the daily forecast.’
“Rather than just doing the science and spilling it out there, we’re going to take a step back and listen.”
Media Contact: Jami Kunzer
About NIU
Northern Illinois University is a student-centered, nationally recognized public research university, with expertise that benefits its region and spans the globe in a wide variety of fields, including the sciences, humanities, arts, business, engineering, education, health and law. Through its main campus in DeKalb, Illinois, and education centers for students and working professionals in Chicago, Naperville, Oregon and Rockford, NIU offers more than 100 areas of study while serving a diverse and international student body.
