Examining how agriculture is affected by climate
Catherine Champagne shares data on how one of the most important sectors is affected by climate
Catherine Champagne, acting manager of the National Agroclimate Information Service, is new to the GeoIgnite conference this year, and the information she has to share will make you examine climate change in a new way.
During her presentation, Champagne intends to make the audience see the impact of climate change, but instead of how it affects cities, she wants to show how it impacts agriculture.
“I think a lot of people don’t think a lot about climate and agriculture. I think when we talk about climate change, we tend to talk about sort of how it’ll affect cities and infrastructure and things like that. I think a lot of people don’t think too much about how it’s going to impact agriculture. So, I’m hoping I can sort of share the kinds of things that we currently do and the importance of those things for monitoring our food and how that affects all of us in terms of our food supply,” said Champagne. “We just came off a drought this summer in Western Canada, that’s had a huge impact on sort of our supply chains in Canada. And this ultimately impacts sort of the prices that people pay for food, which is something that a lot of people talk about. So, I hope to sort of trace some of this back to how at the very start, how it’s affecting how plants are grown, and how culture is progressing.”
She says her work involves monitoring climate extremes and taking all of the data, models and other information to produce information products to the public and politicians.
What she hopes to gain from her presentation is to raise the interest level of people regarding climate and its impact on agriculture.
“[I hope to] pique their curiosity about how weather and climate impact agriculture. I think a lot of people maybe find agriculture kind of slow and boring and don’t really think of it as an exciting and dynamic area. But this is where all of our food comes from. So, I hope that it piques their interest and they come and listen to learn more about what we’re doing.”
Registration for the conference closes at the end of the month.
To register, visit www.sites.grenadine.co/sites/gogeomatics/en/geoignite-winter-geo-canada-s-national-geospatial-conference-2022/register.
