Almost a year after announcing it would conduct research studying the effects of climate change on Nebraska agriculture, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) will release the first of its kind report on climate change on September 25th, 2014.

The UNL study findings will be presented as a Heuermann Lecture: “Understanding and Assessing Climate Change: Implications for Nebraska” on September 25, 2014 at 3:30 p.m. at Nebraska Innovation Campus Conference Center, 2021 Transformation Drive, with a 3 p.m. reception preceding.

The lecture will also be available via livestream at http://heuermannlectures.unl.edu

Background on the Nebraska Climate Change Study

The IANR announced that the study would be done in November 2013 shortly after the Nebraska legislature passed a bill authorizing a similar study to be done by the state.  The bill, proposed by Sen. Ken Haar, was changed significantly from its original version so that the study would not include analysis of human influences on climate change.

The effort to exclude human causes from the study was led by Sen. Beau McCoy, a since-failed gubernatorial candidate who doesn’t believe human activity affects climate change and global warming. Sen. Haar criticized McCoy’s changes to the bill, and even appeared on the Rachel Maddow show to discuss climate-change denial.

Once the UNL study was announced, Haar called for the state-funded study to be abandoned.  The state-funded study was then cancelled by Gov. Heineman who has never made it clear if he believes in climate science.

We encourage Nebraskans interested in the future of agriculture in our state, especially in regards to the effects of climate change on agriculture, to tune in and watch the discussion of the study results.

Click here to see the video of Sen. Haar on the Rachel Maddow show and to read his letter to his colleagues in the legislature.