The National Drought Mitigation Center (NDMC) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) will work with the U.S. Department of Agricultures (USDA) Office of the Chief Economist (OCE) to enhance its role in providing national-, state-, tribal-, and local-scale drought information services to support the U.S. agricultural sector and multiple USDA agencies, including the USDA Climate Hubs, as well to investigate several economic based research projects associated with agriculture and the value of the water used in agricultural production.
The cooperative agreement for the 2020-21 period is directed at a variety of projects with 30 percent of the budget dedicated to addressing several economic ideas and problems that have been identified. Other projects will investigate enhancing information for livestock producers and forage production, enhancing the way drought related impacts are reported and collected into the Drought Impact Reporting system at the NDMC and enhancements to the products and data associated with the U.S. Drought Monitor. To complete the work associated with the cooperative agreement, the NDMC will be collaborating and coordinating with the Daugherty Water For Food Institute and the Department of Agricultural Economics, both at the University of Nebraska.
For the performance period, the cooperative agreement is divided into three main components for the deliverables, which will consist of:
Economic projects related to agriculture and water used for agriculture
Research associated with improving information for livestock producers and forage production
Enhancements related to the products and data associated with the United States Drought Monitor (USDM)