Overview of the SECC mission,
strategy, and programs
Keith Ingram
Coordinator, Southeast Climate Consortium
SECC History
• Three universities, U. Miami, Florida State U.,
and U. Florida established the Florida
consortium in 1997 with funding from NOAA
Climate Program Office as a Regional
Integrated Sciences and Assessments (RISA)
Center
• SECC – RMA partnership established in 2002.
We are now in our second continuation
• Federal Grant through CSREES began in 2003.
We are now in our 5th CSREES grant.
Mission
The mission of the Southeast Climate Consortium is to
use advances in climate sciences, including improved
capabilities to forecast seasonal climate, to provide
scientifically sound information and decision support
tools for agriculture, forestry, and water resources
management in the Southeastern USA.
As a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional team, the
SECC conducts participatory research and outreach
to a broad community of potential users and forms
partnerships with extension and education
organizations to ensure that SECC products are
relevant and reliable.
SECC Members
University of Florida
Crop modeling, extension, hydrology, decision
systems, linking crop and climate models,
down-scaling
Florida State University
Climate sciences, state climatologist, downscaling
University of Miami
Decision analysis, evaluation
University of Georgia
(since 2002)
Crop modeling, evaluation, hydrology,
extension, state climatologist
University of Alabama –
Huntsville (since 2003)
Climate sciences, state climatologist
Auburn University
(since 2003)
Agricultural and resource economics,
hydrology
North Carolina State University Crop pest modeling, state climatologist
(since 2007)
SECC Strategic Themes
Climate
Agricultural Research
Water Resources Management
Decision Analysis / Assessment
Agricultural Extension
AgClimate
AgroClimate
Climate Information Development and
Delivery System
Research Faculty
Extension Faculty
Climate
Climate Extension Specialists
Prototype AgClimate
Prototype CoastalClimate
Prototype SEWaterClimate
Agriculture
Water Resources Decision Analysis
Agricultural & Forest Commodity Specialists
Information Delivery
State Climatologists
Cooperative Extension Services
AgroClimate
Extension Agents
Decision Makers
Agricultural producers, Green industry
managers, Forest managers, Water
resource managers, Policy makers
Important Issues
• Strategy for continued federal funding
 Ear mark
 Competitive grants
 Competition for RISA
 RMA continuation
• Regional issues
 Drought, NIDIS, and other efforts regarding water
resources
 Climate change – new, broader clientele
 Expanded coverage for AgroClimate and SECC