CLIMATE RESILIENCY: THE CO-DEVELOPMENT OF KNOWLEDGE FOR ADAPTING SUSTAINABLE PRACTICES AMONG ALABAMA ROW CROP FARMERS

Vulnerability is defined as the potential for loss in natural and human systems. The degree of vulnerability for a specified area is perpetuated by physical and social conditions which dictate the level and success of its adaptation and recovery. In the context of climate-based pressures, especially those increasing in frequency and severity within the Southeast region, the physical and social vulnerabilities associated with regenerative agriculture cannot be uniformly addressed in the frame of soil health. Anthropogenic climate change accelerates natural hazard occurrences and potency via unpredictable weather, drought, increased precipitation, rising global temperatures, and increased erosion. All of which have direct influence on nutrient availability, soil biodiversity, water and air quality, and public health. Despite the severity of the existing soil degradation and erosion in the Southeast region, farmers are generally known to have political, social, and financial aversions to adopting sustainable practices designed to reduce climate hazards. Thus, there is a necessity to encourage soil conservation strategies to those increasingly at risk for soil and crop degradation. In the case of Alabama row crops, where soils are degraded, there is a growing interest in encouraging the implementation of sustainable methods, such as smart irrigation and cover cropping, to improve southeastern soil and nutrient health. This research aims to 1) create a network of learning sites to co-develop knowledge that might foster climate resiliency and 2) identify those limitations and barriers which may inhibit farmers from adoption using frequent farmer-researcher-extension engagement in three regions of Alabama (north, south, and central) and 3) co-develop methods to disseminate information about the environmental impacts of implementing climate smart technologies. This study enables a sustainable dialogue throughout Alabama and appoints research participants as key actors in the action science and co-knowledge process. The research will seek to expand the knowledge of stakeholders in Alabama, foster dialogue about climate variability and change in areas particularly at risk of climate related damage, and damage and alleviate inconsistencies in risk management in chronically vulnerable areas.