Weather Disasters Underscore Need for Adaptive Management Programs

Weather-induced disasters in multiple points across the nation in recent weeks seem to be occurring at a rate that has run unabated in recent years. Massive flooding in the Missouri River basin has taken lives and caused billions of dollars in agricultural losses in the Midwest. Flooding is continuing throughout this week in Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri where a late winter storm – a so-called "bomb cyclone" – has sent river waters soaring above their banks, breaching more than a dozen levees and causing fatalities. Property losses are huge and still mounting as they continue to be estimated. Solutions from the Land (SfL) extends its sympathy for the losses that are being suffered by the people of the region and hope residents there can find the strength needed to bring about a full recovery. By building coalitions of land managers, scientists, government and value chain partners and others around agro-forest ecosystems or landscapes, better efforts can be made to ensure continued production of essential food, feed, fiber, energy and similar products in a time of changing climates, all while improving the delivery of environmental and economic values from the land