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TWIN FALLS, Idaho • Even though farmers in the Pacific Northwest won’t feel the effects of climate change as much as their counterparts in southern regions, they will need to adjust their cropping strategies.

The University of Idaho is in year four of a five-year project to study how changes in temperature and precipitation projected to happen in the next 30 to 50 to 100 years will impact cropping practices in the Pacific Northwest, particularly dry land wheat production areas.

“We’re starting to get robust results,” said Kristy Borrelli, University of Idaho extension specialist in charge of the Regional Approaches to Climate Change (REACCH) project. One of those findings is that management decisions may be able to override some of the impacts from climate change.

“Farmers are used to adapting to changes season-to-season or even within a season,” she said. “They are used to handling risk factors, they make different decisions based on what they know or see.”

They’ll need every bit of that adaptability to adjust to a climate that is projected to be warmer and also wetter than what is considered normal today.