Beef cattle production contributed $43 billion to state and local economies across the Great Plains in 2017. The Great Plains contain the largest remaining tracts of grassland and 50% of the nation’s beef cows, more than 16 million head, representing major components of the region’s overall agricultural economy. Cattle operations, which rely on grassland forage for much of their animals’ dietary intake, could be especially vulnerable to increased precipitation variability. Increased precipitation variability will have broad consequences for the region, but agriculture and rural economies may be the most vulnerable, Briske said. But future weather patterns in the Great Plains may be characterized by increased precipitation variability, or increased instances of wet or dry years and fewer “normal years,” Briske said. Climate variability increasing across Great PlainsĬlimate change is often perceived as a gradual long-term change in weather such as precipitation and temperature. The researchers concluded the key to sustainable beef cattle production on the Great Plains is being prepared for, rather than reactive to, climate change in the region and hope their article can guide discussions and encourage future action. Coauthors were John Ritten, Ph.D., University of Wyoming Amber Campbell, Ph.D., Kansas State University Toni Klemm, Ph.D., AgriLife Research post-doctoral research associate and Audrey King, Ph.D., Oklahoma State University. Texas A&M AgriLife Research scientists and collaborators explored the rural economic impacts of climate variability and identified potential future outcomes for beef cattle production in a research article, “ Future climate variability will challenge rangeland beef cattle production in the Great Plains,” recently published in the journal Rangelands.ĭavid Briske, Ph.D., AgriLife Research rangeland ecologist in the Department of Ecology and Conservation Biology in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Texas A&M University, Bryan-College Station, was the lead author. Cow/calf operations in the Great Plains are likely to be impacted by the increased variability of precipitation that supports forage production for 50% of the nation’s cow herd.
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