Social Science Research and Climate Change: Informing Integrated Responses to Climate-Driven Challenges In Agriculture.

The USDA NIFA-funded Climate Change, Mitigation, and Adaptation in Corn-Based Cropping Systems (CSCAP) project is a 136-person team of scientists, graduate students and topic-based specialists across more than 19 disciplines seeking to increase the resilience and adaptability of Midwestern agriculture. A central component of the project is a social science-based research and extension effort that both informs and is informed by the biophysical science and modeling components of the project. This presentation will describe how the social science research interacts with the extension and biophysical science components of the project and with a second USDA NIFA project, Useful-to-Useable (U2U).  Preliminary data from a survey of 5,000 farmers from 22 HUC6 watersheds across 11 Corn Belt states will be presented and issues associated with integration of social science, biophysical science, and extension discussed.