Making decisions with caution: Understanding decision-making in Kansas ranching in a changing environment

Keywords: Extreme weather events, Adaptation, Climate variability, Resilience
Abstract Type: Poster Abstract

Abstract

Rangelands across the world are facing unprecedented social and ecological change and are highly sensitive to climatic changes. Ranching is an important production system in these ecosystems where crop production is not feasible. This descriptive study used online surveys to examine ranchers' intricate and complex decision-making in the context of extreme weather events in Kansas. The findings reveal that ranchers in Kansas are not only facing a prolonged drought but also experiencing heat waves and cold snaps that impact their ranch decisions and operations. Ranchers are more concerned with the long-term sustainability of their ranches but adopt reactive and immediate practices, such as significantly destocking and adjusting grazing patterns to navigate extreme climate events. This can be partly attributed to the potential barriers, such as limited financial resources and uncertainty about the effectiveness of the practices that would impact the adaptation of more proactive practices. Socioeconomic factors such as land costs, ranch input costs, and market fluctuations also interact with environmental and weather changes to shape ranchers' operational decisions. Rancher decision-making happens in a complex, non-linear environment that requires flexibility and an understanding of multiple factors that influence decision-making. There is a need to further understand how the social, environmental, and institutional interactions within the rancher's environment shape their decision-making and adaptation choices in the context of extreme weather events.