IMPACT² State Fair Activity, 2025

CASE STUDY: GAME

TYPE	Virtual Group Activity, Played over Zoom with small group discussions in breakout rooms
DURATION	60-90 minutes
SCOPE	Participants in Iowa, Indiana, and Illinois
PARTICIPANTS	Small-scale, new and beginning, and specialty crop producers from Indiana, Iowa, and Illinois (we facilitated the activity with producers in each state separately) Extension professionals from Illinois (we facilitated the activity with Extension professionals to get feedback and hear their opinions)
PARTICIPANT COURT	We have used this activity with groups from 1 participant to 15 participants. Overall, we facilitated four sessions with 30 participants total.
PARTICIPANT ROLE	Main Facilitator Participants work in small groups to build farms (2-5 people) Small group facilitators guide small groups
MATERIALS	Computers IMPACT² Main Facilitator PowerPoint (ppt) IMPACT² Small Group Facilitator PowerPoint (ppt) IMPACT² Main Facilitator’s Guide (docx) IMPACT² Handout for Players (docx) IMPACT² State Fair Ribbon (png)
DEVELOPMENT TEAM	National Drought Mitigation Center
APPROXIMATE COST	The main cost was staff time for the development of the game. Additionally, as this was used in a research setting, we gave participants $100 gift cards as a thank you for their time
FUNDING SOURCE	USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA)

SCENARIO

Participants worked within teams to make investments on a small Midwestern farm to improve its profitability, environmental sustainability, and ability to minimize risk during extreme weather and climate events, both now and under future climate challenges.

The activity consisted of the following: (1) teams build a farm for the year 2025 and select farm size, management practices, crops, and livestock, (2) facilitator shares the projected climate scenario for 2050, (3) teams adapt their farms for 2050 by making changes and adding specific conservation practices, and the (4) teams share their 2050 farm as a State Fair Poster.

OBJECTIVE

The game was developed to better understand producers’ visions and decision-making regarding the future of agriculture. It could also be used as an educational or engagement activity to spur discussion or planning.

ACTIVITY AGENDA

Overview of activity
Build team farms (Breakout Rooms)
Review climate scenario for 2050
Improve climate resilience on farms & fill out State Fair posters (Breakout Rooms)
Present State Fair posters to the group
Give out State Fair ribbons

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

"I think this is really good [talking about the future climate]. I mean, it just keeps reinforcing the fact that, like, we're gonna have to keep… being nimble and be diverse...I think this is kind of in line with what we're expecting, maybe what we've dealt with."

OUTCOMES

The primary outcome of the game was the collection of information about agricultural producers’ needs related to climate change adaptation.

Producers are interested in the following:

More info from other countries or cultures and alternative practices/innovative ideas
Hearing from people directly who are in similar farming situations
Learning about future fruit tree viability
Expanded information on cover crops
Recommendations on reliable sources of climate information
Speed of planting zone movement
Specific information about microclimates

Generally, what are producers' thoughts about climate and future growing opportunities?

A desire to have more continued conversation about climate change and farming
Concern about water quality as well & what neighbors are doing on their land
Concern about fluctuating between hot, cold, wet, and dry (flooding, pest and disease problems, erosion, etc.)

DOWNLOADS

IMPACT² Overview and Instructions (docx)

IMPACT² Main Facilitator PowerPoint (ppt)

IMPACT² Small Group Facilitator PowerPoint (ppt)

IMPACT² Main Facilitator’s Guide (docx)

IMPACT² Handout for Players (docx)

IMPACT² State Fair Ribbon (png)

This project is supported by Agriculture and Food Research Initiative Competitive Grant 2023-67023-39246 from the USDA National Institute of Food & Agriculture.

Additional Resources: IMPACT² website https://agclimate4u.org/

Additional Information: Contact Tonya Haigh, National Drought Mitigation Center, thaigh2@unl.edu.

IMPACT² State Fair Activity, 2025

SCENARIO

OBJECTIVE

ACTIVITY AGENDA

PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK

OUTCOMES

DOWNLOADS

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