Adaptation Course Details

The Specialty Crops Adaptation Course is a week-long, in-person course offered by the Climate Analogs Academy. This Adaptation Course is for Extension professionals who work with specialty crop producers.

The course will take place October 5–9, 2026, in Mount Vernon, Washington, with field tours and workshop sessions focused on specialty crop systems. Participants should plan to travel to the Skagit Valley on Sunday, October 4, and return home on Friday, October 9, after the course concludes.

Course overview

The Specialty Crops Adaptation Course is designed to help Extension professionals initiate and sustain climate adaptation in their work. The course focuses on making climate change knowledge and adaptation options tangible, accessible, and actionable through cross-regional knowledge exchange, local case studies that showcase how local challenges are being address, extension-led research on adaptation/mitigation, and developing workflows and communications to help producers bring climate strategy planning into focus alongside their short-term planning for weather.

Participants will leave with practical ideas they can bring back to their own Extension, outreach, research, or education work.

Course objectives

By the end of the Adaptation Course, participants will be better prepared to:

• Build practices to engage growers in planning and action beyond the seasonal cycle.
• Foster relationships across geographies that enable knowledge exchange related to climate-adaptive practices, including the use of climate analogs as a planning and engagement tool.
• Strengthen Extension professionals’ skills and agency to catalyze change in institutional, political, and community systems that support climate resilience in agricultural systems.
• Create a forum for building and practicing skills for effective dialogue around climate risk management and motivations for action and inaction.

Course format

The Specialty Crops Adaptation Course will run from Monday through Friday morning. Participants should plan to travel to the Academy on Sunday and depart Friday afternoon.

The week will include a mix of field tours, indoor workshop sessions, discussion, tool-based activities, and communication education and practice sessions. Active engagement throughout the course is expected

Pre-course learning materials will be provided before arrival. Participants can complete these materials at their own pace, but should plan for at least one hour of preparation before the in-person course.

Field tours may involve standing and walking in farm fields for up to two hours at a time. Participants should bring clothing and footwear appropriate for outdoor agricultural sites.

Who should apply

This Adaptation Course is intended primarily for Extension professionals. Agricultural professionals such as certified crop advisors may be considered, as well as graduate students preparing for Extension, outreach, or applied agricultural careers.

Cost and travel support

There is no cost to participate in the Adaptation Course for accepted applicants. Most major participant expenses are covered, including course fees, hotel during the course, meals during the course, and flights to and from the course location.

Participants are responsible for meals during travel and transportation between the airport and the course location. Out-of-state fellows may wish to fly to Seattle and take the Bellaire Shuttle to Burlington, WA. Recommendations and coordination will be offered for fellows who wish to enjoy nearby site-seeing before or after the course.

Preliminary course schedule

The schedule below provides a preliminary overview of course topics and activities. Final timing, tour locations, speakers, and session details are subject to change.

• Day 0: Travel, arrival, and tour kickoff. On Sunday, participants will travel to the course location and arrive at Washington State University (WSU) Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center. The evening will include a welcome dinner and time to connect with other program fellows.
• Day 1: Regional climate context. Monday, the first full day, will focus on grounding participants in the region’s climate context. Sessions will address flooding, sea level rise, heat, and other climate-related stressors relevant to specialty crops and broader regional climate adaptation and resilience challenges across the agricultural system. The day is expected to include a regional climate conversation and overview at WSU Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research and Extension Center. Additional session and tour details are still being finalized.
• Day 2: Blueberries, analogs, and communication in practice. Tuesday will include a session focused on analogs concepts with a blueberry focus, along with a mulch story for co-benefits. The agenda includes a presentation by Lisa DeVetter and a tour of trials at WSU Mount Vernon Northwestern Washington Research & Extension Center. The day is also expected to include a farm tour focused on communication and engagement in practice, followed by a farm-to-table dinner. Additional details are still being finalized.
• Day 3: Adaptation action in practice. Wednesday will focus on farm tours and examples of adaptation action in practice. The preliminary schedule includes farm tours, lunch and discussion, a food hub visit, and dinner with a speaker. Additional tour locations, speakers, and session details are still being finalized.
• Day 4: Scenario planning, policy, and ecological grief. Thursday will include scenario planning and exploring climate analogs. The preliminary schedule also includes discussion of the policy landscape, engagement with university governmental relations offices and commodity organizations, and an ecological grief train-the-trainer session. Additional speaker and activity details are still being finalized.
• Day 5: Reflection, retrospective, and return travel. Friday, the final day, will focus on reflection and next steps. The preliminary schedule includes a regroup and reflection session, a workshop retrospective, and course close. Participants should plan to begin return travel after the course concludes.

Climate Analogs Academy

The Specialty Crops Adaptation Course is offered through the Climate Analogs Academy. This project aims to empower U.S. Extension professionals to lead regional climate change adaptation in specialty crops. The Academy focuses on building dialogue around technical information and strengthening relationships across regions.

The Climate Analogs Academy is a USDA NIFA Extension Climate Hub Partnerships Project (20236701339348) led by Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources.

Questions?

For questions about the course, eligibility, travel support, or application process, contact Teal Potter at teal.potter@wsu.edu.