Why Climate-focused OneUSDA Workshops?
Due to climate change, the Caribbean region is becoming drier and hotter, being affected by rising sea levels and more frequent extreme events. Climatic projections indicate that temperatures in the region will continue to rise and that rainfall patterns will change making the dry season more extensive and extreme rain events occur in the rainy season.
The USDA Caribbean Climate Climate Hub has the task of identifying and documenting sustainable management practices that farmers, ranchers, producers and managers of agricultural and forestry lands can adopt to increase their resilience to climate change.
OneUSDA workshops provide educational resources for professionals in the agricultural and forestry sectors in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands through training workshops and videos. The workshops bring together USDA agencies, extensionists and outstanding agricultural professionals in one place for an open exchange of climate-smart strategies in Caribbean agriculture and forestry.
About the Workshops
The workshop series objectives include:
- Facilitating the exchange of information and knowledge between producers, extensionists and agencies to identify and disseminate best adaptation and mitigation practices;
- Increasing climate literacy in Caribbean agriculture and forestry;
- Sharing best practices and available assistance opportunities that increase the capacity of farmers and landowners to prevent, reduce and recover from the effects of climate change; and
- Promoting strategies that help increase the productivity of the agricultural sector.
The USDA Caribbean Climate Hub’s OneUSDA workshops | Agriculture, forests and conservation: Integrating practices and available resources are possible thanks to funding from the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) as well as collaboration with USDA agencies, agricultural extensionists and outstanding local farmers and agricultural business owners.
Workshops 2023
Workshop #1: Student Center, University of Puerto Rico – Utuado | March 17, 2023
Workshop #2: Zanjas Community Center, Camuy | April 14, 2023
Workshop #3: Juana Díaz Agricultural Experiment Station | May 12, 2023
Workshop #4: Burcarabón Foundation, Maricao | June 9, 2023
Workshop #5: Lajas Agricultural Experiment Station | August 11, 2023
Workshop #6: Hacienda La Esperanza Manatí | November 8, 2023 | Register here!
The workshops were aimed at farmers, agronomists, agricultural entrepreneurs and landowners, and offer a unique opportunity for the exchange of knowledge between USDA agencies and agricultural extensionists.
Climate Adaptation in Action | Farmer Success Story Highlight Videos
To further disseminate the adaptation strategies being used by local producers to adapt to climate change, the USDA Caribbean Climate Hub is producing a video series. The video series highlights local success stories in climate-smart agriculture and forestry.
Each video features a collaborating farmer that shared their experience during a OneUSDA workshop as part of the “peer-to-peer knowledge exchange” portion of the workshop’s agenda.
To hear from each farmer directly about their experience with climate change, extreme events and the improvements they’ve seen after applying conservation practices, see the video series at the bottom of this page.
For specific details about the conservation practices applied at each featured farm, explore the menu above!
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