Earlier this month, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack announced seven Regional Hubs for Risk Adaptation and Mitigation to Climate Change. The purpose of the climate hubs is to assist farmers, ranchers and forest landowners adjust to the "localized effects of climate change." The hubs will serve to transfer findings and technologies from federal, state and university research efforts into management practices. The centers will also link stakeholders, such as non-governmental organizations and farm groups, as well as Interior and NOAA, which have their own regional "hubs" – the Landscape Conservation Cooperatives and Regional Integrated Sciences and Assessment Program, respectively.
Chosen through a USDA competition, the agriculture hub locations are: Ames, Iowa; Durham and Raleigh, N.C.; Fort Collins, Colo.; El Reno, Okla.; Corvallis, Ore.; and Las Cruces, N.M. USDA will also set up three "sub-hubs" in California, Michigan and Puerto Rico that will have narrower focuses.