Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
Capstone Project Stage 2: Water, crops and climate
(end of module 6)
The diagram below summarizes the topics you will explore in Stage 2 for your assigned region. In Stage 2 of the capstone, you will
engage in spatial thinking and geographic facility to interpret spatial data (for example annual precipitation and evapotranspiration
data) and interpret how multiple regional factors contribute to determining which crops are produced in your region.
1
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
What to do for Stage 2?



Download and complete the CapstoneProject_Stage2.docx worksheet that contains a table summarizing the data you’ll
need to collect to complete this stage. Remember, you need to think deeply about each response and write responses
that reflect the depth of your thought as informed by your research.
Add relevant data to your powerpoint file.
Add questions and continue to research the questions in your worksheets.
Capstone Project Overview: Where do you stand?
At this stage, you should have started to investigate your assigned region and have added information, maps and data to your
worksheets and powerpoint file for Stages 1 and 2.
Upon completion of stage 2, you should have at this point:
1. Confirmed which region you will study for your capstone project and identified the members of your group. Set up
systems for file sharing, group communication and group meetings.
2. Initiated research and data compilation in the Stages 1 and 2 sections of the Future Food Scenarios table.
a. Stage 1: Regional food setting, history of regional food systems, soil types
b. Stage 2: Water resources, crops and climate
3. Created a powerpoint file to hold the data that you are collecting about the food system of your assigned region.
Information you may have:
a. Labeled map of your region
b. Soil map of your region
c. Precipitation and temperature map of your region
d. Major crops and crop families grown in your region
4. Compiled an initial list of questions you have about your region related to key course topics and initiated significant
efforts to answer.
2
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
Stage 2: Water, crops and climate
Region Name
Country
State/Province
Water Resources
What is the average annual precipitation in your assigned
region? Is irrigation necessary in your assigned region?
(Learning goal 1)
The regional climate data centers of the National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) post climate data for all
of the United States. Go to the following website:
http://www.wrcc.dri.edu/precip.html. Select the state where
your region is located. Identify the range of annual precipitation
that your region receives.
3
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
Virtual Water
How much virtual water is embedded in the food products
from this region?
Use the website you used in the summative assessment for
Module 4 to get some rough estimates of the amount of virtual
water embedded in the food products of your assigned region:
http://environment.nationalgeographic.com/environment/freshwater/embedde
d-water/
Water Pollution
Go to EPA’s surf your watershed website.
http://cfpub.epa.gov/surf/locate/index.cfm
Find your region on this site.
Are any waterways impaired by excess nutrients (or other
agricultural related pollutants?) (Learning goal 2)
Crops and their characteristics
What crops are grown in your assigned region? Use the
following two websites to find the top five crops produced in
your region.
1. http://www.nass.usda.gov
Go to the section labeled “Find Data and Reports” Begin by
selecting your state, then select the link labeled the name of
your State Agricultural Overview. You can also data by counties.
2. Next for US statistics: Use USDA CropScape website
4
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
http://nassgeodata.gmu.edu/CropScape/
1. What are the top five crops in your region?
2. Is each crop an annual or perennials?
3. In what plant family is each crop? Recall that you can refer to
this reference http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2906/2906-1393/29061393.html - http://pubs.ext.vt.edu/2906/2906-1393/29061393.html
4. Is each crop a cool season or warm season crop, a C3 or C4
plant?
Crops, climate, soil
Would you classify the soils and climate of your region as a high
resource of low resource environment? How might climate and
soils in your region explain why these crops are produced in
that region?
You may find complementary information on crops, climate, and
soil at a regional level in the NRCS Major Land Use Areas
publication at
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/nrcs142
p2_050898.pdf
5
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
Crops & Socioeconomic Factors
What socio-economic factors might explain why these crops
are produced in that region? One major socioeconomic factor
could be markets and the ability to transport the products
either locally or to other areas of the U.S. or other region.
Another might be the economic level and ability to invest in
production by residents of the region or companies producing
food there.
Future Climate
What impacts will rising temperature and increased evaporation
have on food production in your region?
Determine what temperature increases are projected in your
assigned region as a result of human-induced climate change.
Also, you'll need to start thinking about what impacts those
changes may have on the food system in your region. You'll use
the National Climate Change Viewer (NCCV) that you were
introduced to in Module 6.1 to investigate the projected
changes in minimum and maximum monthly temperatures in
your assigned region.

Find your assigned region on the NCCV
(http://www.usgs.gov/climate_landuse/clu_rd/nccv/viewer.asp
and refer back to the worksheet from the formative
assessment in Module 6.1 for instructions).

Explore the data available for your region. Clip any graphs or
maps that you think might be useful for your final
6
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
presentation and paste them into your PowerPoint.

Download the summary document from the NCCV and
extract appropriate figures into your PowerPoint.

Identify the changes in other climate variables from Figure 2
(on this page) for your assigned region.
Impacts of climate change on agriculture
in your region
Use the Agriculture chapter of The effects of climate change on
agriculture, land resources, water resources, and biodiversity to
identify some likely impacts of the projected future climate
changes you’ve identified on the key crops of your assigned
region
7
Future Food Scenarios: Capstone Project
Stage 2 Worksheet
Questions about your
region?
What additional information do
you still need to find?
Where have you looked or
searched for this info so far?
References and Key
Resources
Include web links, newspaper
articles, citations to primary
literature, databases, personal
communications, etc.
8