Sonia A. Hall

Sustainable Grazing Starts with Good Forage Production Data, Especially Under a Changing Climate

We recently released StockSmart, a free, online decision support tool that we developed in partnership with the University of Arizona and the US Forest Service Rocky Mountain Research Station, that accesses remotely sensed forage production data and allows the user to easily define what is accessible to their livestock based on their fences, watering locations, the type of terrain their livestock will traverse and other parameters.

Cows grazing in a green meadow by a hill covered in brush, grasses, and trees.

What We Know and Don’t Know to Effectively Breed Potatoes for Future Climates

Q&A with Potato Breeder Dr. Sagar Sathuvalli This article is part of a series where we share insights from conversations that I had with public plant breeders across the Pacific Northwest about their breeding programs and how climate change considerations intersect with their work.

Pivot irrigation in a field

Using Timing of Risks and Benefits to Breed Barley for Future Climates

Barley, like wheat, can be sown in the fall, overwinter, and grow and mature the next season, or can be planted in the early spring, and have a shorter, quicker growing season. For a variety of reasons, however, spring barley is considered “the good one” for malting and producing beer.

Headshot of Patrick Hayes in front of a green field

How What We Don’t Know Affects Our Ability to Prepare for Future Climates

Maintaining yields under stressful climate-driven conditions is important in Oregon State University’s aroma hop breeding program, as in most breeding programs. However, two other aspects drive the work of Dr. Shaun Townsend…

Hop plant with stunted leaves and stems.

“To Be or Not to Be…” Considerations at the Intersection of Breeding Apples and Climate Change

I recently had some highly educational and thought-provoking conversations with Kate Evans, Professor of the Department of Horticulture and director of the Pome (apple and pear) Fruit Breeding Program at Washington State University. These conversations broadened my thinking on plant breeding and climate change from a focus on understanding to what extent …

Dr. Kate Evans

Check it out: Engagement as a Path Towards Greater Resilience to Climate Change

Our most recently published case study on resilience to climate change describes Brenda and Tony Richards’ family cow-calf operation in Murphy, Idaho. Over the last few years at the Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural…

Two cowboys on horseback with cattle in foreground.

Real-life agricultural innovation: implications for future preparedness

Extension has traditionally involved getting results from researchers to decision-makers in agriculture. Partly because I work on climate change and agriculture, and partly because of the approach my team and the researchers we work with take, extension is, for us, a two-way street. In this article I want to highlight the “other” side of that […]

Global agricultural regions to keep your eye on in the future

One challenge I struggle with when sharing research focused at global scales is how to tease out answers to questions that are meaningful in the region and at the scale I work in. My approach is to focus on the big picture the results sketch out, and think about what it all means (even when […]