Congress plans to scrap USDA Climate Hubs

Not all farmers will agree in a discussion about climate change, but it would be difficult to find a Midwest producer who did not value climate-related data addressing drought, precipitation, temperature and frost outlooks.

These are all pieces of data gathered and distributed by the Ames-based Midwest Climate Hub, which along with the other 10 regional climate hubs under the U.S. Department of Agriculture, is slated to be cut from the federal agriculture budget.

Eleven regional Climate Hubs were established as interagency departments by the USDA in 2014 with the goal of coordinating across agencies, and with U.S. producers, on climate resiliency strategies.

Laurie Nowatzke was formerly the associate director of the Midwest Climate Hub before she was terminated in February and then brought back in March briefly before she took the second deferred resignation program offered to federal employees.

Nowatzke said part of her role at the hub was to “bridge” on-the-ground responses and needs of producers to USDA research, and vice versa.

In this Mesonet Weather Report, Oklahoma state climatologist Gary McManus explains how drought conditions are expanding across the state, while new rain chances may offer some relief. Get the latest Oklahoma weather outlook, drought updat