Climate change is a threat to the profitability and sustainability of agricultural production across the midwest

Research strongly illustrates the local and regional climate factors and their impacts on cropping systems. The need to build resilience and mitigate against dire outcomes is as urgent as ever, with future projections of climate continuing to signal a transient agricultural system. Yet complex barriers, some of which are not yet fully known, to widespread adoption of climate-smart strategies remain. We propose a three-pronged approach that builds a lasting framework to accelerate the midwest's push toward climate-smart agriculture. We will use a human-participatory approach to create regional theories of change (TOC) that will serve as shared road maps for the project team and stakeholders as we assess the current application of and need for climate-informed agriculture strategies in traditional row, specialty, and integrated livestock systems. Targeted workshops will center the unique interests and perspectives of black and indigenous communities. We will enhance the climate-information infrastructure by formalizing the partnership between extension, north central climate collaborative, and the midwest climate hub (MCH) through an extension liaison. This liaison will work closely with the MCH to leverage and amplify outcomes from the TOC workshops and existing resources to strengthen two-way communication between local and regional stakeholders. Finally, we will enhance specific tools and information to provide training for extension professionals in the areas of climate adaptation of working lands (climate ready farms), net- zero agriculture (carbon management and sequestration curricula), and youth programming (climate-engaged 4-h).