Contents of Climate Predictions Desired by Agricultural Decision Makers

In-depth interviews with 27 executives in various agribusinesses defined usage and needs for climate predictions. Predictions are acquired from various public and private sources but are seldom used in making major decisions. Users exhibited little trust of climate predictions, relying heavily on recent weather conditions as the basis of prediction. Additions to predictions involving climatic information would better serve the needs of most agribusinesses. Improved predictive accuracies alone will not materially increase usage. A need exists to familiarize agribusiness leaders with the information currently available, and to realize benefits from this information; many agribusinesses will need to develop models and procedures that allow integration of future weather conditions (actual and predicted) with their corporate activities and economic conditions.