Adapting to climate change: learnings from dairy and arable farmers [Webinar Recording]
This webinar explores how a group of upland dairy farmers in the French Massif Central and crop farmers in Romania are planning and changing their practices to create a more resilient future for their farms.
Speakers
Bertrand Dumont, INRAE (France)
Cristiana Necula, Wageningen University & Research (The Netherlands)
Of interest to
Arable or grassland-based farmers or advisors interested in hearing how both lowland and upland farmers are creating climate-resilient systems
Those involved in research about how farmers are preparing changing weather conditions
Teachers of agriculture in colleges or universities
By the end of the webinar, you will learn about
How farmers are thinking about future climate adaptation and mitigation, based on geographical areas and farm types
The science demonstrating the importance of lowland plains and upland landscapes for biodiversity
The threats and opportunities to lowland plains and upland grasslands and their ecosystems
Research-based analysis
Climate change makes grassland-based production systems more vulnerable because it disrupts the yearly forage supply and makes its availability more unpredictable. Using various research models [1], we are able to analyse how grassland-based farmers’ perceptions modulate how they adapt to climate change in French Massif central.
On the productive southern lowland plains in Romanian, the frequency, intensity, and duration of heatwaves and drought have increased over the past 20 years. Farmers were asked about a variety of changes they had made or were planning, to build a picture showing which measures were the most likely to succeed, from field scale to a whole farm redesign [2].
Geographical context
This webinar offers insight into farmers’ strategies for climate-resistant change, and how these tend to vary along geographical lines.
For example, farmers in the northern Massif Central and southern uplands highlighted the values of permanent grasslands and considered them central to their adaptation strategies. Conversely, farmers in the southern, hilly areas mostly saw little benefit in permanent grasslands and based their adaptation strategies on temporary grasslands and forage crops instead [3].
Threats and opportunities for ecosystems
We also discuss how contrasting strategies can represent an opportunity for maintaining production levels while at the same time provide various ecosystem services and boost overall sustainability at landscape scale.
References:
[1] (i) Model of proactive private adaptation by Grothmann & Patt (2005) https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2005.01.002
(ii) the integrated nature futures framework by Oostvogels et al. (2024) https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10750
[2] Necula, C., Rossing W.A.H., Easdale, M.H., 2024. Archetypes of climate change adaptation among large-scale arable farmers in southern Romania. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 44, 37. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-024-00970-8
[3] Allart, L., Joly, F., Oostvogels, V., Mosnier, C., Gross, N., Ripoll-Bosch, R., Dumont, B., 2024. Farmers’ perceptions of permanent grasslands and their intentions to adapt to climate change influence their resilience strategy. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems 39, e33.https://doi.org/10.1017/S1742170524000279
Recorded in February 2025
Keywords: Arable, Biodiversity, Climate change, Horticulture, Livestock, Local food systems, Low input farming, Organic Agriculture, Socio economic resilience, Transdisciplinary research
Country: France, Romania, EU, Pan-Europe
