Climate Adaptation in Farming

AgriAdapt is a project founded by the LIFE program of the European Commission with a two fold objective: to assess the vulnerability of the main agricultural products of the EU; and to propose sustainable adaptation plans to allow these systems to become more resilient. The subject pool is 120 pilot farms in 4 countries. 



By analysing more specifically the Mediterranean region, I find very interesting to notice how most crops in the study especially in the region of Central and North Italy have improved their yield in the years 2015-2016 signifying an increased adaptability to a warmer climate. Average temperature is at 15 degrees C with low precipitations (and therefore extreme events) which as well presents a favourable environment for the growth for example of wheat or soy crops, compared to the colder years of earlier 2000. This is very noticeable in my home region as well where crops commonly planted in more Mediterranean climates are starting to pave their way towards higher altitudes: this happened with certain strains of resistant and biological grape called Solaris which are now being planted on virgin soil at 700m above the sea level. Similar cases have been experienced as well with olive oils.

A disclaimer to be highlighted here is that the study shares only yield data but omits the changes in productivity volumes of the crops: it might be that in the same regions historically crops such as soy or oat were not a very common plantation and therefore the agricultural system also experienced a learning curve during the two decades. 

It is undeniable that farming will face many challenges in the future. The main short-term adaptation technique for all regions will be diversification, both in order to obtain a better yield of production as well for improving the fertility of the soil. On top of this, depending on the region, we will need to improve the accessibility to water supplies and convert more and more to organiz systems. 

Important to highlight as well, that based on Eurostat data, a study conducted in 2018 with regard to organic farming, reported that an increase in 1% of the organic farming areas will generate a contraction in agricultural production of 0.278%, whereas a 1% increase in the production of fertilizers would generate an increase of 0.260% in agriculture production, which therefore also positively impact the food supply crisis generated by climate change. 
Moreover, we're not considering the profitability of organic farming. Even though it has been corroborated organic farming presents significantly higher profits with lower yields, it must also be taken into account the impact on SME which would be heavily penalized with respect to bigger corporations, if policy makers do not align on a coherent financial support system. 

References:

Cristache S-E, Vuță M, Marin E, Cioacă S-I, Vuţă M. Organic versus Conventional Farming—A Paradigm for the Sustainable Development of the European Countries. Sustainability. 2018; 10(11):4279. https://doi.org/10.3390/su10114279

Crowder DW, Reganold JP. Financial competitiveness of organic agriculture on a global scale. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Jun 16;112(24):7611-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1423674112. Epub 2015 Jun 1. PMID: 26034271; PMCID: PMC4475942.

https://awa.agriadapt.eu/en/  

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