The challenges facing the Chesapeake Bay Watershed are complex, but the path to a resilient future starts with a shared vision.
Charting a Path to Thriving Agriculture and a Resilient Chesapeake Bay
By integrating broad stakeholder perspectives with advanced biophysical modeling, we have developed and explored five distinct pathways for the future. These scenarios are tools designed to help farmers, policymakers, agribusinesses, and community leaders anticipate challenges, identify opportunities for adaptation, and envision a more resilient agricultural-ecological system for generations to come.
Scenarios are designed to:
- Anticipate Change: Understand how market trends and climate shifts impact farm profitability and Chesapeake Bay health.
- Embed a Collaborative Strategy: Representative stakeholder engagement shapes credible, long-term strategies.
- Provide Data-Driven Insights: Narrative visions are translated into quantitative models to evaluate potential real-world outcomes.
- Test Effects of the Unexpected: We address "deep uncertainty" to examine outcomes under extreme but still plausible system shifts.
Learn more about the importance of scenario planning for the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
Current trends in urbanization, food consumption and climate change continue.
Incentivize ecosystem services and mass nutrient balance on farms.
Evaluate the role that land use regulations and other forms of land-based policies, such as farmland preservation, play in making agriculture successful or unsuccessful in an urbanizing environment .
Increase farm profitability through enhanced local food efforts and growing urban/rural relationships.
Disruptive dietary shift to plant-based proteins and alternative meats.
