Contents of Climate Predictions Desired by Agricultural Decision Makers

Abstract

In-depth interviews with 27 executives in various agribusinesses definedusage and needs for climate predictions. Predictions are acquired fromvarious public and private sources but are seldom used in making majordecisions. Users exhibited little trust of climate predictions, relyingheavily on recent weather conditions as the basis of prediction.Additions to predictions involving climatic information would betterserve the needs of most agribusinesses. Improved predictive accuraciesalone will not materially increase usage. A need exists to familiarizeagribusiness leaders with the information currently available, and torealize benefits from this information; many agribusinesses will need todevelop models and procedures that allow integration of future weatherconditions (actual and predicted) with their corporate activities andeconomic conditions.