ABSTRACT
This chapter demonstrates that the methodology by focusing on the agricultural and water-resources sectors and their links with the rest of the economy. The Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas (MINK) region, far removed from moderating influences of large bodies of water, is typically continental and characterized by large seasonal swings in temperature and precipitation. Compared with the rest of the nation, the MINK economy is specialized in the natural resource-based sectors most likely to be affected by climate change. Precipitation in the MINK region is controlled by two physiographic features: the Rocky Mountains, which remove moisture from maritime Pacific air from the west, and the Gulf of Mexico, which provides moisture-laden maritime-tropical air to the region. The increasing scarcity and cost of groundwater in western Nebraska and Kansas imply substantial reductions in groundwater withdrawal for irrigation in those parts of MINK by 2030. The regional impacts of climate change are an aggregate of the representative farms.
