Farmers and Climate Change
Climate change is among the most pressing global challenges facing our society. Given agriculture’s reliance on climate and water resources farmers are inherently vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Extreme weather events such as drought, heavy rainfall, and floods are nothing new for farmers, but research indicates that climate change will increase the likelihood and severity of these weather events. Farmers will need to anticipate and adapt to these events in the years ahead. Human activities such as fossil fuel combustion, land use change, and agriculture are also important drivers of climate change through their alteration of the global carbon and nitrogen cycles. These facts highlight the need to balance effective greenhouse gas mitigation efforts with robust adaptation initiatives that enable farmers to cope with the consequences of climate change and extreme weather. Sustainable solutions must also safeguard global food security by helping farmers to maintain or preferably enhance crop productivity.
Understanding Farmers' Views on Climate Change
In order to develop effective responses to both the causes and consequences of climate change, it is crucial that we first understand farmer's beliefs and concerns about climate change. With this in mind we have contributed to several important surveys on farmer's views on climate change with scientists from UC Davis, Purdue , Iowa State, the Scottish Agricultural College and the Australian National University. The main goal of the these studies has been to comparing farmers’ perspectives on climate change across different industrialized countries in diverse climatic conditions including the US Midwest, California, New Zealand, Australia and Scotland.
See the examples of our recent work below:
Prokopy L.S., G.J. Arbuckle, A. Barnes, V.R. Haden, A. Hogan, M.T. Niles, J. Tyndall. (2015) Farmers and climate change: a cross-national comparison of beliefs and risk perceptions in high-income countries. Journal of Environmental Management. 56(2): 492-504. (PDF)
Haden V.R., M.T. Niles, M. Lubell, J. Perlman, L. Jackson (2012) Global and local concerns: What attitudes and beliefs motivate farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change? PLoS ONE. 7(12):e52882. (PDF)
Niles M.T., M. Lubell, V.R. Haden (2013) Perceptions and responses to climate policy risks among California farmers. Global Environmental Change. 23(6): 1752-1760. (PDF)
See the examples of our recent work below:
Prokopy L.S., G.J. Arbuckle, A. Barnes, V.R. Haden, A. Hogan, M.T. Niles, J. Tyndall. (2015) Farmers and climate change: a cross-national comparison of beliefs and risk perceptions in high-income countries. Journal of Environmental Management. 56(2): 492-504. (PDF)
Haden V.R., M.T. Niles, M. Lubell, J. Perlman, L. Jackson (2012) Global and local concerns: What attitudes and beliefs motivate farmers to mitigate and adapt to climate change? PLoS ONE. 7(12):e52882. (PDF)
Niles M.T., M. Lubell, V.R. Haden (2013) Perceptions and responses to climate policy risks among California farmers. Global Environmental Change. 23(6): 1752-1760. (PDF)
Projecting Climate Change Impacts on Water Supplies
Climate change is expected to have significant effects on agriculture through higher temperatures, water availability and extreme weather events. Our research in this area uses field data on water and crop production to calibrate crop growth and hydrologic water models. These models can then be used to make projections about the impact of climate change on agriculture.
See examples of our recent work below:
Mehta V.K., V.R. Haden, D.R. Purkey, B.A. Joyce, L.E. Jackson (2013) Irrigation water demand and supply given projections of climate and land-use change in Yolo County, California. Agricultural Water Management. 117:70– 82. (PDF)
See examples of our recent work below:
Mehta V.K., V.R. Haden, D.R. Purkey, B.A. Joyce, L.E. Jackson (2013) Irrigation water demand and supply given projections of climate and land-use change in Yolo County, California. Agricultural Water Management. 117:70– 82. (PDF)