Students will research, discuss, and write reports on the relationship between climate and agriculture. They will pretend that they have just purchased farms in specific parts of the United States and will investigate that region's weather and climate in order to maximize the chances that their farms will succeed.

Geography, science, current events

Standard 8: "The characteristics and spatial distribution of ecosystems on the Earth's surface"
Standard 14: "How human actions modify the physical environment"
Standard 18: "How to apply geography to interpret the present and plan for the future"

Two to three hours

• Computer with Internet access (recommended)

Students will

• discuss the relationship between climate and agriculture;
• pretend they have just purchased farms, and research the weather and climate factors they would need to consider in order to successfully run their farms; and
• write reports describing the climate-related factors they would need to understand when running their farms.

Hold a class discussion on students' current understanding of the relationship between climate and agriculture. What types of crops grow in different parts of the country, and how does climate affect the decision to grow crops in different regions? How are farmers affected by climatic variations such as drought, flooding, and early frosts?

Ask students to imagine that they have decided to purchase a farm. They will need to ignore the fact that this might be a rather impractical ambition and assume that they have the skills, finances, etc., to operate a farm.

Have each student choose a specific agricultural area of the United States in which to buy their farm (some examples are Vermont, Wisconsin, Nebraska, or California's central coast). Ask them to research the climate of the area, paying particularly attention to temperatures, precipitation levels and patterns, and the length of a typical farming season. Also have them find out how weather and climate affect farmers in general. Have them answer the following questions:

• What are the average high and low temperatures in January and July?
• Is there a period of the year when the farm will need to be fallow (e.g., the coldest parts of the winter)?
• What is the average annual precipitation?
• When does this region get most of its rainfall?
• How does weather affect other factors that are important for operating the farm, such as insect reproduction, types of crops that will thrive, etc.?
• What will be your greatest weather-related concerns? How will the weather affect your operations?

The following Web sites may be helpful:

Agriculture.com Weather Page
USDA Joint Agricultural Weather Facility
The Weather Channel

Hold a closing class discussion on students' research findings. What interesting things have they learned about agriculture and climate? If they were farmers, what would they need to keep in mind about climate and weather in order to ensure the success of their farms?

After students have conducted their research, have them write reports describing the specific weather- and climate-related issues they will need to be aware of when running their farms.

Ask students to discuss how farmers might be affected by global warming. What might happen to farming in the United States and other parts of the world as the climate becomes warmer? Who would benefit, and who would suffer? They can research trends and predictions in the world climate at the following Web sites:

National Climatic Data Center
Pew Center on Global Climate Change
Spotlight: Climate Change
Warnings from the Ice

National Geographic: Xpeditions Activity—Creative Climates
Pew Center on Global Climate Change