The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) announced on July 19 nine grants totaling more than $8 million to study and develop new approaches for the agriculture sector to adapt to and mitigate the effects of changing environmental conditions. The funding is made possible through NIFA’s Agriculture and Food […]
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Maine’s wet 2017 winter and spring eased the 2016 drought conditions, says Sean Birkel, University of Maine research assistant professor and Maine State Climatologist. Winter precipitation was 2.3 inches more than normal on a statewide average, he says, totaling 11.7 inches water equivalent. And spring precipitation was 2.5 inches above normal, totaling 12.3 inches water […]
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A University of Maine report was cited in the Sun Journal article, “Maine’s climate already changing, with more to come.” “Maine’s Climate Future: 2015 Update,” by the Climate Change Institute, Maine Sea Grant, and members of the Maine Climate and Agriculture Network at UMaine, lays out a troubling scenario for a state that depends on […]
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Sean Birkel, Maine’s state climatologist and a research assistant professor at the University of Maine’s Climate Change Institute, was quoted in the Kennebec Journal article, “Climate changes across Maine likely to bring more severe weather.” At a broad level, Birkel studies what has been happening in Maine over time, according to the article. “The historical […]
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Seacoast Online reported Ivan Fernandez, a professor of soil science and forest resources at the University of Maine, will speak about climate change at 6 p.m. Tuesday, June 27 at Wells Reserve. “Maine’s Climate Future — What Do We Do Now?” will focus on the implications of a changing climate for the people and places […]
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Thanks to generous support from the Correll Fellowship, Sonja Birthisel explores solutions to challenges climate change is creating for farmers. The Ph.D. candidate in UMaine’s interdisciplinary Ecology and Environmental Sciences program also uses her research to introduce high school students to STEM fields, providing teenage interns opportunities to develop independent research projects. Watch to find […]
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Ivan J. Fernandez will address “Maine’s Climate Future – How Do We Respond?” at 11 a.m. Friday, March 17 at the University of Maine at Fort Kent. Fernandez is a soil scientist with the School of Forest Resources, the School of Food and Agriculture, the Maine Climate and Agriculture Network, and the Climate Change Institute.
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The spring 2017 mini-symposium featured short, 8-10 minute talks by some of UMaine’s graduate and Honors students working on aspects of “agriculture and climate change”, broadly defined in this context to encompass related topics in agriculture, aquaculture, and the environment. To view or download a copy of each presentation, click the presentation’s title. The February […]
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Long-term changes in weather are affecting Maine agriculture, bringing both risks and potential opportunities for farmers in the state. At the University of Maine, faculty initiated the Maine Climate and Agriculture Network to improve coordination among faculty, staff and students on the subject. The network recently published a fact sheet that outlines observations of how […]
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At the Maine Agricultural Trades Show, the Kennebec Journal reported several University of Maine faculty who are members of the Maine Climate and Agriculture Network spoke with farmers about the likelihood of unpredictable weather patterns in the coming years and what they can do to be prepared. “We’re going to have extreme weather conditions one […]
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