Climate-Based Agricultural Risk Management Tools for Florida, Georgia and Alabama, USA

Abstract

The Southeast Climate Consortium was initiated in 2001 as a regional expansion of the Florida Consortium. The Florida Consortium of Universities (FLC), consisting of the University of Miami, the University of Florida, and Florida State University was formed in 1996 and was funded by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-Office of Global Programs (NOAA-OGP) as a pilot Climate Applications Project. Following the establishment of the Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment (RISA) program, the FLC became the first RISA east of the Mississippi. Initial research concentrated on the use of seasonal-to-interannual climate forecasts for the agricultural sector in Argentina. This focus was shifted to Florida in 1998. Following the success of the FLC in Florida, the University of Georgia was invited to join the consortium in 2001 and as a result the Southeast Climate Consortium (SECC) was formed. In 2002, Auburn University and the University of Alabama at Huntsville joined the SECC.