Assessing Climate Change Effects on Pacific Northwest Wheat Production Systems.

Regional Approaches to Climate Change for Pacific Northwest Agriculture (REACCH) is a large, USDA-NIFA-sponsored Coordinated Agricultural Project, focused on responses to projected climate change on wheat production in the rain-fed wheat systems of the eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and Northeastern Oregon. The project is transdisciplinary, involving social, ecological and production disciplines, engagement with stakeholders and educational elements at all levels.  A substantial component of this project involves assessing potential impacts of projected climates on wheat production based on process based crop models (CROPSYST) coupled with downscaled climate models of the region. Recent efforts are incorporating the projected effects of key pests and diseases in the system. Execution requires close collaboration among disciplines. It also implies integration of various forms of data, which must be managed and manipulated by various project participants. This has necessitated creation of a data management system capable of handling diverse types of data including outputs gridded climate and crop model outputs, results of replicated field trials, insect bioassays. The system has been developed in partnership with the Northwest Knowledge Network of the University of Idaho. It is also benefitting from and partnering with AGMIP to provide a node in its data management network, and to ensure that the work of the project is accessible to the global community. Future engagement with the USDA's LTAR network is also anticipated. The talk will outline research approaches used in REACCH, some results, status of the project and future plans, and examples of the data system portal and products involving downscale yield projections including insect pests. Continued engagement with AgMIP will be important in ensuring the ongoing impact of the project.