Orchards, farms, forests, bees, livestock—what risks does climate change pose to each of these elements of Harvard’s agricultural landscape? That was the topic of the first of two workshops, this one held in upper Town Hall Feb. 2.
The workshops are being hosted by the town’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness (MVP) subcommittee, which invited everyone with agricultural interests, from commercial orchardists to beekeepers to backyard farmers, to attend.
About 20 residents participated. Almost half identified themselves as commercial farmers; the others were either recreational farmers or residents who had an interest in the subject matter.
The state’s Municipal Vulnerability Preparedness program was created in 2016 to help cities and towns assess their vulnerability to the impacts of climate change and develop strategies to become more resilient. Last year, Harvard received a $35K grant to pay for the technical assistance needed to complete the state program, and part of that money was used to hire consultants from Harriman, who created the content for these workshops based on state guidelines.
First on the agenda was Emily Keys Innes, an urban planner with Harriman, who gave an overview of climate change in the U.S. and Massachusetts based on data from resilientMA.org, a clearinghouse of climate data created by the Massachusetts Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs.
Impact on crops
Innes was followed by Professor Dan Cooley from the Stockbridge School of Agriculture at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, who outlined climate change impacts specific to agriculture. Cooley said there has been a 71 percent increase in the number of extreme precipitation events in the northeastern U.S. since the mid-1990s. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration defines extreme events as those in the outermost 10 percent of an event for a given location. Heavy rainfall can cause crop failure in a multitude of ways, including increased disease, root suffocation, and shortened growing seasons due to delayed planting.
Cooley also talked about the effect that warmer nighttime temperatures would have on the quality of some apple varieties, many of which require cool nights to develop their flavor, and he described the effect warmer winters and springs would have on crops such as apples or peaches where trees could be coaxed to bloom too early. A warm spell followed by a sudden plunge in temperature can spell disaster, as in 2016 when this scenario caused the total loss of Harvard’s peach crop.
Participants were then directed to split into three groups to identify what they perceived as the top climate-change-related hazards to agriculture as well as agricultural vulnerabilities and strengths. The groups named extreme storm events and the timing of those events, temperature variability, precipitation extremes, pests, and invasive vegetation as hazards.
Vulnerabilities and strengths
The discussion of vulnerabilities and strengths resulted in a wider variety of responses. One group identified public health as a vulnerability because of the possibility of new and increased numbers of pests such as ticks and mosquitos. But Jim Burns, local maple syrup maker and the group’s spokesperson, added it was also a strength because “residents have shown they care about public health.” It also identified Harvard’s abundance of trees as both a strength because trees are good for the environment, and as a vulnerability, because new invasive plants could squeeze out the understory growth.
A second group identified lack of town water for the whole town and the lack of underground utilities as vulnerabilities because of power outages during extreme weather events. It also mentioned the risk of environmental contaminants from pest sprays as mosquito and tick populations increase. Matthew Varrell of Harvard Alpaca Ranch said an increase in the number of hot days is an issue for his farm because “it’s hard to figure out how to cool an alpaca.”
The third group, which included Kerri and Chris Green and Stephanie O’Keefe of Westward Orchards as well as Pam Lawson of Doe Orchards, identified some vulnerabilities that have already impacted their businesses. Those include the taxing of farm buildings at the same rate as residences, increases to the state’s minimum wage, and the pressures of development such as the planned Craftsmen Village project nextdoor to Doe on Ayer Road. As for climate vulnerabilities, the group cited the increased cost to run cold storage as temperatures increase, as well as temperature variations that are good for some crop varieties but not others.
Director of Community and Economic Development Chris Ryan will prepare a full summary of the workshop responses in time for the second workshop, where participants will discuss actions that could be taken to mitigate the hazards and vulnerabilities identified. That workshop will take place Saturday, March 2, from 9 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in upper Town Hall. The public is welcome, but space is limited, so interested residents should RSVP to Ryan at cryan@harvard.ma.us.
