Agricultural Adaptation Research Articles

Gendered adaptations to climate change in the Honduran coffee sector

Despite the principal role of coffee exports in rural Latin American livelihoods, the literature on gender and climate adaptation in agriculture has paid little attention to this sector. This paper examines gender differences in on-farm and off-farm climate adaptation measures undertaken by smallholder coffee farmers in Western Honduras. We conducted 29 qualitative interviews with women and men coffee farmers in three coffee-dependent villages in Intibucá. We find that participants, regardless of gender, use few on-farm climate adaptation measures, and increasingly rely on off-farm activities such as waged employment and international migration to complement their coffee-based livelihoods. We also find that women farmers utilize fewer adaptation measures due to a gender asset gap and the gender division of labor in coffee-producing households. We conclude that women's limited access to the means of production in coffee-producing communities and their responsibilities for domestic labor impede community resilience to climate change.

Field-scale dynamics of planting dates in the US Corn Belt from 2000 to 2020

Crop planting dates are a dynamic feature of agricultural systems that respond to short- and long-term climate signals, crop and cultivar selection, and technology changes. Planting date records are essential for yield gap analyses, accurate crop modeling, and tracking farmer adaptations to weather and climate change. Although planting dates have high variation at local scales due to heterogeneity in farm resources and decision-making, available long-term data on planting dates are largely restricted to aggregated regional statistics or, at best, satellite-derived datasets with limited spatiotemporal extent and at resolutions unable to distinguish individual fields. Here, we generated retrospective annual field-scale (30 m) planting date maps for both maize and soybeans spanning 2000–2020 across a 12-state region in the United States Corn Belt based on Landsat satellite data and a large ground sample of over 28,000 maize and soybean fields. Using training data from 2015 to 2020 for model selection, we found that planting date predictions improved with harmonic regression of Landsat data and additional annual weather covariates. The preferred random forest model approximately doubled performance compared to a null model based on state median planting dates, capturing 47% of field-level variation for maize (mean absolute error, MAE = 7.4 days) and 44% for soybeans (MAE = 7.5 days) against held-out ground truth test data for 2008–2014. We also evaluated the full 2000–2020 dataset with state agricultural statistics, finding strong agreement with median planting dates for maize (R2 = 0.76, MAE = 4.4 days) and slightly lower agreement for soybeans (R2 = 0.65, MAE = 5.4 days) when aggregated to the state level. We then used this new dataset to analyze environmental determinants of planting dates at a finer-scale than previously possible, controlling for unobserved variation at the sub-state district level. We found that during 2000–2020, each standard deviation increase in early-season rainfall delayed planting by ∼2.5 days, and fields with higher soil productivity ratings tended to be planted earlier. We did not find meaningful trends over the last two decades in planting dates for maize or soybeans, in contrast to trends towards earlier planting dates late last century and predicted for this period in climate adaptation studies. We hypothesize increases in early season rainfall or persisting early-season frost risks may have inhibited these shifts towards earlier planting. Remotely sensed planting dates will be a useful tool for yield gap analyses, crop simulation modeling, and ongoing assessment of climate adaptation.

Challenges Faced by Smallholder Farmers in the Implementation of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Variability in the Arid and Semi-Arid Areas in Kenya

Smallholder Farmers in Kenya have several challenges in implementing adaptation strategies due to the prevailing climate change and variability. It is unclear how various challenges have affected the farmers, especially in Evurore division, Embu County. Therefore, this paper examined the challenges smallholder farmers face in implementing adaptation strategies to climate variability in Kenya's arid and semi-arid areas. The study adopted a descriptive research design with a target population of 50,620 people from 13,008 households in the Evurore division. A sample of 169 respondents was selected scientifically from the target population using the Yamane Taro formula. The sample population was also comprised of 17 key officials purposively chosen for the study. The study relied on primary and secondary data obtained using semi-structured questionnaires and published metrological data. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as mean and frequencies and regression analysis. The paper established that implementing the adaptation strategies has been minimal due to smallholder farmers' challenges, including a lack of training for smallholder farmers on climate-smart agriculture, conservation agriculture, soil conservation, and water conservation. These challenges negatively influenced the farmer's adaptation strategies. This study used a regression model to determine the relationship between the smallholder farmers' perception of climate change and the adaptation strategies used to adapt to climate change. The study results indicate a significant positive correlation between challenges ( r = 0.068; p < 0.05). The paper recommended that the government, through agricultural extension officers, train farmers on the effective implementation of adaptive strategies in the region. Keywords: Climate Variability, Arid and semi-arid areas, Smallholder Farmers and Adaptation Strategies to Climate variability DOI: 10.7176/JEES/13-3-05 Publication date: April 30 th 2023

Increasing interannual climate variability during crop flowering in Europe

Climate change has increasingly adverse effects on global crop yields through the occurrence of heat waves, water stress, and other weather-related extremes. Besides losses of average yields, a decrease in yield stability—i.e. an increase in variability of yields from year to year—poses economic risks and threatens food security. Here we investigate a number of climate indices related to adverse weather events during the flowering of wheat, maize and rapeseed, in the current cultivation areas as well as the main European producer countries. In 52 projections from regional climate models, we identify robust increases in the interannual variability of temperature, precipitation and soil moisture by ∼+20% in standard deviation in the model median. We find that winter wheat is most exposed to variability increases, whereas rapeseed flowering escapes the largest increases due to the early flowering time and the northern locations of cultivation areas, while the opposite (escape due to southern locations and late flowering) is true for maize to some extent. Considering the timing of crop development stages, we also find a robust increase in the variability of the temporal occurrence of flowering, which suggests a decreased reliability in the timing of crop stages, hampering management steps like fertilization, irrigation or harvesting. Our study raises concerns for European crop yield stability in a warmer climate and highlights the need for risk diversification strategies in agricultural adaptation.

Can Food–Energy–Water Nexus Research Keep Pace with Agricultural Innovation?

• Slow sectoral reorganization and imbalanced resource utilization strain sustainable adaptation of agriculture to emerging technologies. • Decentralized service can accelerate acceptance of FEW-converged technologies by farmers, investors, and policymakers. • FEW-converged technologies can reduce counterproductive impacts of non-comprehensive approach while increasing delivery of tangible solutions.

Exploration of the Adaptive Capacity of Residents of Remote Mountain Villages

It is important to understand how residents in highly vulnerable natural and social environments, e.g., remote mountain villages, adapt to extreme climate shocks. Taking Shenmu Village in Xinyi Township, Nantou County, central Taiwan, as an example, this study examined the adaptive capacity of residents in this remote and mountainous area from the perspective of social capital and institutions. The empirical data for this study were collected from two sources: the Public Participation Geographic Information System Workshop and in-depth interviews with the residents of Shenmu Village. The results of the study reveal that the residents of Shenmu Village adopted agricultural adaptation strategies by switching crop types and utilizing diversified crop production spaces. Their adaptive capacities are based on mutual assistance and reciprocity, networks, local knowledge, mountain area and land management policies, and improvements in transportation and communication infrastructure in central Taiwan. This study can provide a reference for the sustainable development of remote mountain villages.

Factors Affecting the Choice of Adaptation Strategies to Climate Extremes: The Case of Smallholder farmers in Southern Zambia

This study assesses the adaptation of smallholder farmers to climate extremes and its contributing factors in Zambia’s southern province. The study employed primary data collected from 270 smallholder farmers, and these constituted the sample size. According to the study's findings, change crop variety was adopted by 43% of the farmers. Other strategies of adaptation that were employed include; agricultural insurance, change sow/harvest date, crop diversification and soil conservation. The findings also showed that the various strategies of adaptation (agricultural insurance, change sow/harvest date, crop diversification and soil conservation), correlated positively with age, education, distance, farming experience, ownership of a radio, an ox, a plough, and extension source. The study makes the following recommendations; (a) enhancing the education and awareness level of farmers towards climate extreme, (b) improving farmers’ access to agricultural assets (plough, oxen etc), and (c) when developing and implementing adaptation strategies, farming experience should be taken into account.

Hunter-gatherer admixture facilitated natural selection in Neolithic European farmers

Ancient DNA has revealed multiple episodes of admixture in human prehistory during geographic expansions associated with cultural innovations. One important example is the expansion of Neolithic agricultural groups out of the Near East into Europe and their consequent admixture with Mesolithic hunter-gatherers.1,2,3,4 Ancient genomes from this period provide an opportunity to study the role of admixture in providing new genetic variation for selection to act upon, and also to identify genomic regions that resisted hunter-gatherer introgression and may thus have contributed to agricultural adaptations. We used genome-wide DNA from 677 individuals spanning Mesolithic and Neolithic Europe to infer ancestry deviations in the genomes of admixed individuals and to test for natural selection after admixture by testing for deviations from a genome-wide null distribution. We find that the region around the pigmentation-associated gene SLC24A5 shows the greatest overrepresentation of Neolithic local ancestry in the genome (|Z|= 3.46). In contrast, we find the greatest overrepresentation of Mesolithic ancestry across the major histocompatibility complex (MHC; |Z|= 4.21), a major immunity locus, which also shows allele frequency deviations indicative of selection following admixture (p= 1×10-56). This could reflect negative frequency-dependent selection on MHC alleles common in Neolithic populations or that Mesolithic alleles were positively selected for and facilitated adaptation in Neolithic populations to pathogens or other environmental factors. Our study extends previous results that highlight immune function and pigmentation as targets of adaptation in more recent populations to selection processes in the Stone Age.

The effects of institutions and cultures on people's willingness to pay for climate change policies: A meta-regression analysis

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the effects of institutions and cultures on people's willingness to pay (WTP) for climate change policies by conducting a meta-regression analysis of 1501 WTP estimates retrieved from 224 studies conducted in 47 countries. The objective of this paper is to examine the influence of institutions and cultures, as well as other important factors, on WTP for combating climate change. The findings indicate that people in less-corrupt countries are more willing to contribute to tackling climate change, while societies that are characterised by greater indulgence and uncertainty avoidance extend less support towards mitigation and adaptation efforts. The types of climate change policies also appear to matter. Compared to the green electricity policy, WTP is higher for specific GHG reduction and energy-efficient vehicle policies and lower for agricultural adaptation policies. Policies directed towards latitudinal positions have a negative effect on WTP. These results imply that institutions and cultures are crucial in promoting the public acceptance of climate change policies.

Impact of Agricultural Land Use Types on Soil Moisture Retention of Loamy Soils

Increasingly severe hydrological extremes are predicted for the Pannonian Basin as one of the consequences of climate change. The challenges of extreme droughts require the adaptation of agriculture especially during the intense growth phase of crops. For dryland farming, the selections of the optimal land use type and sustainable agricultural land management are potential adaptation tools for facing the challenges posed by increased aridity. To this end, it is indispensable to understand soil moisture (SM) dynamics under different land use types over drought-affected periods. Within the framework of a Slovenian–Hungarian project, soil moisture, matric potential and rainfall time series have been collected at three pilot sites of different land use types (pasture, orchards and a ploughland) in SW Hungary since September 2018. Experiments were carried out in soils of silt, silt loam and clay loam texture. In the summers (June 1 to August 31) of 2019 and 2022, we identified normal and dry conditions, respectively, with regard to differences in water balance. Our results demonstrated that soil moisture is closely controlled by land use. Marked differences of the moisture regime were revealed among the three land use types based on statistical analyses. Soils under pasture had the most balanced regime, whereas ploughland soils indicated the highest amplitude of moisture dynamics. The orchard, however, showed responses to weather conditions in sharp contrast with the other two sites. Our results are applicable for loamy soils under humid and subhumid temperate climates and for periods of extreme droughts, a condition which is expected to be the norm for the future.

Climate Based Smart Agriculture: Need for Food Security and Sustainability

A variety of climate-smart agriculture technologies, practices, and services have been introduced in climate-smart villages as adaptation strategies to cope with climate risks and ensure stability and sustainability in agricultural production. Farmers who utilize climate-smart agriculture adaptation strategies have been shown to achieve higher output, yield, and return compared to those who do not. There are promising opportunities to scale out these strategies and immense potential to enhance crop yields and farm incomes while reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 Strengthening agricultural extension services and agricultural finance by linking climate finance to traditional agricultural finance could play a significant role in scaling out climate-smart agriculture practices and technologies. This would make agriculture more sustainable and climate-resilient, thereby becoming a viable source of livelihood and food security for millions of farmers in the country. Zero budget natural farming is a climate-resilient farming system that can enhance food and nutritional security while allowing farmers to improve soil fertility and yields at lower costs, risks, and irrigation requirements. This system protects the ecosystem by improving soil organic matter, water retention, and biodiversity, while reducing air and water pollution as well as greenhouse gas emissions.

Differentiated agricultural sensitivity and adaptability to rising temperatures across regions and sectors in China

Prioritizing efforts that adapt agriculture to a warmer climate requires understanding how different regions and sectors of the agricultural system respond to warming. We assess the regional and sectoral responses in agriculture to rising temperatures using a rich and comprehensive panel of Chinese counties over more than two decades. We leverage temperature variations both from year to year and over multiple-year periods to separately identify short-run and intermediate-run responses. We find that temperature effects vary between northern and southern China, and between sectors (cropping, livestock, forestry, and fisheries). Warming's impacts are concentrated in the cooler northern region, where contemporaneous high temperatures depress both the cropping and livestock sectors but benefit the forestry sector. When intermediate-run adaptations are accounted for, the negative short-run impact of extreme temperatures on the cropping sector can be largely mitigated. But the mitigating effect is limited in the livestock sector. These findings inform the design and ranking of region and sector-specific policies and investments for agricultural adaptation to climate change.

Food Safety, Consumer Behaviour, and Government Policy after the COVID-19 Pandemic in Thailand: A Review

This paper focuses on the state of food safety and economic recovery in Thailand following the COVID-19 pandemic. Content analysis on the news, research studies, organizations’ reports, and statistical data regarding food safety and relevant government policies during 2020–2022 was employed in order to analyse the impact upon and the adaptation of farmers and consumers, as well as the actions of the Thai government. COVID-19 resulted in various public health measures that placed restrictions on transportation, directly and indirectly affecting the supply chain system, food production, and employment. The Thai government has launched strategic policies based on the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economic model in order to recover the overall economic situation. It has supported the University to Tambon’s (U2T) projects with the aim of strengthening the local communities across Thailand. Technological and innovative techniques and equipment have been adopted to create safe food production, especially agricultural products. The project’s development is still underway and needs long-term evaluation and improvement.
 Keywords: food safety, post COVID-19, economic recovery, U2T campaign

Technical objects and the adaptation of agriculture to climate change

Cette communication est issue d’un travail de recherche en géographie des risques qui s’intéresse à la vulnérabilité de l’agriculture méditerranéenne au changement climatique et à la diminution de la ressource en eau en Roussillon (France). Deux démarches complémentaires sont entreprises : la première caractérise les stratégies d’adaptation à la diminution de la ressource en eau des exploitants agricoles au moyen d’entretiens semi-directifs traités par un logiciel d’analyse textuelle. La seconde spatialise les pratiques d’adaptation des exploitants sur des croquis localisés. L’intérêt de cette démarche est double : elle permet, d’une part, d’identifier les mécanismes de construction de l’adaptation des exploitants et, d’autre part, de les insérer dans l’espace sur lequel elles s’articulent. Cependant, les exploitants ne s’adaptent pas tous de la même manière. Certaines stratégies tendent même à augmenter la vulnérabilité des exploitants à la diminution de la ressource en eau. Replacer ces stratégies dans des dynamiques de fonctionnement d’exploitation et des espaces informe sur l’évolution de la vulnérabilité des espaces. Cette note scientifique se concentre sur le second volet de la démarche. Au moyen de croquis, les stratégies des exploitants sont spatialisées sur un plan. Cela permet de documenter la manière dont les stratégies s’insèrent dans les territoires, ainsi que de distinguer les actions pour y parvenir. Dans le cadre du changement climatique et des prévisions sur l’évolution de la ressource en eau d’irrigation, l’usage de technologies dites « intelligentes » peut diminuer la vulnérabilité de l’exploitant, mais peut aussi l’augmenter. Ce paradoxe dépend du rôle attribué aux technologies dans les stratégies qui agissent sur la dépendance des exploitants à la ressource en eau. Vues à travers le prisme de la géographie des risques, les technologies ont un rôle ambivalent dans la diminution de la vulnérabilité de l’agriculture. Les conclusions nuancent le rôle des pratiques high-tech dans l’adaptation au changement climatique.

CLIMATE CHANGE AND ITS IMPACT ON GLOBAL CEREAL PRODUCTION: REVIEW

Climate change badly effect the farming community which will lead to breakdown of the backbone of sustainable agriculture. Furthermore, the risk will play a major role when it comes to agricultural production in most countries and leads to lack specific strategies to overcome such situation. Furthermore, in most regions of the world there is a lack of research to understand the factors shaping farmer adaptation to climate change and the institutional links between farmer resilience. This study looked at climate change and its impact on global grain production. The results show that most farmers implementing climate change adaptation strategies are strongly linked with their inherited knowledge. Mostly it was affected to peasant farmers with low income. How will climate change impact the world’s food supply and how will its impacts be distributed? Increased or decreased food security risks? Findings suggest that agricultural advisor services are keeping them in the industry, introducing new forestry programs to capture carbon and ultimately reducing urbanization processes suggest that it is necessary to increase grain production.

Socio-Economic Vulnerability and Adaptations of Fish Farmers to Climate Variability and Extreme Climate Events in Selected Parts of Kitui County, Kenya

Climate variability and extreme climate events is one of the many challenges faced by fish farmers. The present study was carried out to assess and compare the socio-economic vulnerability and adaptations of fish farmers to climate variability and extreme climate events in arid and semi-arid lands of Central and Eastern parts of Kitui County, Kenya. Both study sites were purposively selected and the descriptive research design adopted. A total of 60 fish farming households were randomly selected to form the sample size for the study. The socio-economic vulnerability analysis of the fish farmers was based on an index constructed from carefully selected indicators for adaptive capacity. Principal Component Analysis was used to give weights to the indicators. The overall adaptive capacity index results revealed that possession of various assets varied between the two study sites, implying a spatial difference in socio-economic vulnerability between the two study sites. Regarding adaptation, results revealed that the level of adoption of various adaptation strategies to climate variability and extreme climate events also differed significantly between the two study sites and was subject to the adaptive capacity of the fish farmer. Therefore, this study recommends that the socio-economic vulnerability profile of the fish farmers inform any adaptation actions to be taken on fish farmers in arid and semi-arid lands.

Mob grazing: A nature-based solution for British farms producing pasture-fed livestock

Mob grazing is a nature-based solution to boost sustainable livestock productivity by optimising pasture management. It is already used widely in North America, and is now also receiving increased attention in the United Kingdom. In spite of this, its implementation by British farmers has so far remained largely unexplored. To close this gap, we studied how and why mob grazing is being adopted by British pasture-fed beef farmers. Field-level grazing management information was collected on 15 farms and analysed using cluster analysis and ordination analysis, showing the diversity of practices and establishing a gradient of mob grazing implementation. Farmer interviews explored general farming context, and rationale and motivations underpinning each farmer's grazing approach. Four main rotational approaches were identified at the field level: (1) conventional non-mob stocking by farmers still in the initial stages of discovering mob grazing; (2) mob stocking, involving reduced grazing duration at increased stocking densities, with pasture rest periods similar to those used in rotational non-mob stocking; (3) mob grazing, involving similar stocking densities as in mob stocking, but allowing for longer rest periods; and based on one early adopter of mob grazing practices in our sample (4) intensive mob grazing using very high stocking densities and frequent cattle movement, allowing for even longer rest periods. Interviews revealed the shift to mob grazing as a gradual process of farmer adaptation, involving the need to overcome constraints such as fencing and water access. Some early adopters amongst our sample of farmers observed various benefits to sustainability of livestock production, soil and ecosystem health, and animal health. We found much variation across farms, partly due to farmers adopting mob grazing gradually. Also, many farmers in our sample, in varying degree, were influenced by holistic grazing approaches. The ‘systems’ basis underlying such approaches, and variation in mob grazing implementation, mean that interdisciplinary and longer-term investigations may be most appropriate for exploring mob grazing effects. This is also illustrated by a case study involving long-term data from one intensively mob grazed farm.

A study evaluating the extrinsic and intrinsic determinants of farmers' adoption of climate change adaptation strategies: A novel approach for improving farmers' health

Small-scale farmers living in mountainous areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change. Although governments have implemented various support programs and policies to support a range of farmers to tackle climatic changes, there are still several difficulties in the implementation of these adaptation strategies. Using the survey data of 758 small-scale farmers this paper employs Multivariate Probit (MVP) and Poisson regression models to measure the effects of intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting farmers adaptation decision in rural Vietnam. The results reveal that the extrinsic factors such as annual rainfall variations and farm size motivate farmers' adoption of their adaptations. The findings also reveal that the political connection has a significantly positive impact on the respondents' selection, while government interference such as extension training programs has a negative association with the farmers adaptation choice. Public extension programs should be simultaneously redesigned to support farmers in mitigating the impacts of climate change.

Members of the tomato NRC4 h-NLR family augment each other in promoting basal immunity

Plants possess an efficient, two-tiered immune system to combat pathogens and pests. Several decades of research have characterized different features of these two well-known tiers, PTI and ETI (Pattern/ Effector-triggered Immunity). NLR (Nucleotide-binding domain Leucine-rich Repeat) receptors have been found to link PTI to ETI, and be required for full potentiation of plant immune responses in several systems. Intra-cellular helper-NLRs (h-NLRs) mediate ETI and have been focused on extensively in recent research.Previously, we investigated the roles of the h-NLR SlNRC4a in tomato immunity, finding that a specific mutation in this gene results in gain of function constitutive defense activation and broad disease resistance. Deletion of the entire NRC4 clade, which contains 3 genes, can compromise tomato immunity. Here, we decided to investigate the role of an additional clade member, SlNRC4b, in basal immunity. We generated a gain of function mutant in SlNRC4b using CRISPR-Cas9, as well as a double gain of function mutant in both genes. Similarly to the slnrc4a mutant, a slnrc4b mutant also possessed increased basal immunity and broad spectrum disease resistance. The double mutant displayed additive effects in some cases, with significant increases in resistance to fungal phytopathogens as compared with each of the single mutants. Our work confirms that the NRC4 family h-NLRs are important in the plant immune system, suggesting that this gene family has the potential to be promising in targeted agricultural adaptation in the Solanaceae family, promoting disease resistance and prevention of yield loss to pathogens.

Proposals for the improvement of the technical examination under the EU Plant Breeders’ Rights system

Two complementary strategies are presented aiming at improving the technical examination of new plant varieties under the procedure for the granting of new Plant Breeders Rights, both in the European Union and within the framework of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, in order to stimulate innovation in the plant breeding sector. The proposed measures are (relatively) easily implementable, without major systemic reforms, and have the potential to ease innovation, either generically, or addressed at specific relevant key challenges, such as the adaptation of agriculture to climate change.