Climate change and how to adapt to it were on the minds of Maritime agriculture experts at a Moncton conference Wednesday.

Agriculture Canada is hosting a conference on weather patterns this week. According to many producers, changing climate is altering the way they do business.

Norm Catto, a professor of geography at Memorial University in St. John's, said a changing climate isn't necessarily a bad thing for resource-based industries in the region. He's been tracking the changing weather, and he said it's simply a matter of adapting.

"If I've got a warmer, drier summer, I could say 'that's very unfortunate, I don't like that,' " Catto said. "Or, I could say 'All right, it's warmer and drier, what different things can I grow? Are we going to get more tourists because it's warmer?' Maybe we should make adaptations for that.' "

For potato farmers like Kevin McIsaac from P.E.I., those adaptations have included new ways to manage water supply and protect against erosion in the winter.

McIsaac has been in the industry for 15 years, and he said in that time he's seen the weather change significantly.

"We seem to have periods that are hotter than they were before," McIsaac said. "We also have periods now that are quite dry, and we're looking for ways to obtain water to counter that problem."