By Cristiana Necula, Walter A. H. Rossing & Marcos H. Easdale
First published in Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 9 July 2024 (Volume 44, article number 37)
Read full paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-024-00970-8
Abstract
Unpredictable climate patterns have become a part of every farmer's life, requiring them to adapt their practices with increasing frequency. This is certainly the case in the highly productive Romanian Plain, where the frequency, intensity, and duration of heatwaves and drought have increased over the past 20 years.
Although recent surveys revealed farmers’ awareness of climate change and identified a number of farm adaptation measures in the Romanian context, a systems approach to adaptation that allows conclusions on farm vulnerability and adaptive capacity is missing.
This article use archetypal analysis to characterise and explain for the first time the types of adaptations appropriate to arable farmers in southern Romania. The team conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 farmers managing 51,500 ha located across the southern lowlands of Romania, selected for their diversity of management approaches.
Farmers were asked about experienced climatic disturbances, crop production losses during the most extreme events over the past 5 to 10 years, and the adaptation measures they implemented over that period of time. In addition, structural characteristics of the farm were recorded.
The adaptation measures were classified and mapped on the efficiency, substitution, and redesign gradient used to classify sustainability stages. Results revealed three archetypes of adaptation, consisting of measures at field and farm level ranging from predominantly efficiency-enhancing ones (e.g., crop choice and management and risk insurance) to complete farm redesign involving agrotechnical and financial management changes.
Structural farm characteristics did not explain differences between farms in their association with one of the archetypes. Our approach and results show for the first time both the need for strengthening farmer-level support in one of Europe’s key food production areas and the lessons that can be drawn from the outlier adaptation examples. Current European and national policies offer opportunities for farmer organizations in Romania to make these conclusions actionable.
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Read the full paper: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-024-00970-8
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