Monitoring the Impacts of Extreme Weather on Canada's Food Supply with Catherine Champagne, Environmental Scientist, National Agroclimate Information Service with Agriculture & Agri-Food Canada

Inter-annual variability in agricultural production in Canada is largely determined by weather and climate. Climate-related impacts have caused billions of dollars in financial losses in some years, with the incidence of extreme weather and related costs expected in increase in a changing climate. The National Agroclimate Information Service at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada monitors the impacts of weather and climate on agricultural activities using a number of geospatial data sets, models and tools to support decision making in the agricultural sector. This presentation will provide an overview of how AAFC is monitoring the impacts of climate and climate change on Canada's field crop production, highlighting innovative research on drought assessment and forecasting, yield forecasting, extreme weather indices and risk assessment. The talk will also highlight how AAFC's monitoring fits into the global monitoring of food supplies and how monitoring is responding to climate change.