Practical Adaptation for Specialty Crops is a week-long, in-person course offered by the Climate Analogs Academy. The course is for Extension professionals who work with specialty crop producers.
The Practical Adaptation course will take place February 21–25, 2027 near Tampa, Florida, with field tours and workshop sessions focused on specialty crop systems. Participants should plan to travel on Sunday, February 21, and return home on Thursday, February 25, after the course concludes
Course overview
Practical Adaptation for Specialty Crops 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 addressed, 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 knowledge, skills, and a communication plan for achieving their goals with their target audiences.
Course objectives
By the end of the Practical 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.
- Strengthen Extension professionals’ skills and agency to catalyze change in institutional, political, and community systems that support climate resilience in agricultural systems.
Course format
Practical Adaptation for Specialty Crops will run from Sunday evening through Thursday morning. Participants should plan to travel to the Academy on Sunday and depart Thursday 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
Practical Adaptation for Specialty Crops 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.
The priority application deadline is October 30, 2026.
Cost and travel support
There is no cost for accepted applicants to participate in the Practical Adaptation course. Most major 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.
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. The general format is to host workshops and one more field tour stops each day.
- Day 0: Travel, arrival, and tour kickoff. On Sunday, participants will travel to the course location and arrive at the Gulf Coast Research and Education Center often referred to as Balm. The evening will include a welcome dinner and time to connect with other program participants.
- 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 events, and other climate-related stressors. A tour will highlight the region’s cropping systems and climate context. Facilitated and side discussions will identify common ground on our climate adaptation challenges.
- Day 2: Local Extension research. Tuesday will highlight local research and innovative management on blueberry, strawberry, and citrus pests and disease, breeding programs investing in low chill perennial fruit varieties.
- Day 3: Adapting your decision support toolbox. Wednesday will focus on sharing education and decision support tools including a resource exchange. This session is intended to help Extension professionals use historical data, as well as short- and long-term forecasts, in presentations, research, and communication with producers.
- Day 4: Bridging data with planning and communication. Thursday will focus on using scenario planning to visualize the participants’ home climate to develop accurate and memorable communications. We may pilot an AI workflows workshop on this day. A field tour stop and downtime will be included in the afternoon.
Upcoming courses
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Practical Adaptation for Specialty Crops is offered through the Climate Analogs Academy by a collaborative team from Washington State University, the University of Minnesota, the University of Florida, and USDA Climate Hubs. The 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.