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Changing planting dates and cultivars, crop substitution, changing cropping patterns

by Piotr Matczak, Darryn McEvoy, Ilona Banaszak, Adam Chorynski

[other options]

What:
Selection of crop rotation schemes and timing of planting and harvesting as well as changing the planted species to respond to local changes in environmental conditions can tackle the droughts problem. It is also to minimize production losses. Productivity could be also sustained or increased by growing crops or trees which better resist inundation, saline conditions, wetness, drought, pests, diseases, frost and a shorter growing season.
Extreme event: Floods; Heat waves
Type of option: Institutional; Technological
Risk management: Risk identification and assessment
Sector: Agriculture
Landscape type: Rural
Location: Australia; Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; China; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Hungary; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Malta; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; Spain; Sweden; The Netherlands; United Kingdom; United States; other
Why:
Drivers of change: Socio-economic: Decreased yields in agriculture.

Policy: Agricultural and nature protection policies.
How and who:
Implementation: Local, regional.
Institutional context: Traditionally the option is based on an individual producer's actions.
Potential barriers: The present policy measures aimed at protecting farmers for uncertainties in market and crop yield tend to stabilize the present situation, and discourage the farmers community to prepare for an uncertain future.
Implications for sustainable development:
Implications for sustainable development: Biotechnology and environmental engineering can offer the potential to develop new, tailored crop varieties which, however, might have negative environmental effects and additionally poor customer acceptance.
In some cases, the negative effects on consumers may be offset by producer gains from higher prices, but in general, total welfare will tend to decline as a result of reduced supply.
Farmers' decisions in respect to the choice of crops are led primarily by market demand and profitability. In the long term, higher prices will stimulate producers to seek ways to increase supply, resulting in new equilibrium levels of prices and quantities. Changes in comparative advantage can be expected to shift geographically the areas in which specific crops are grown, both within countries and internationally, affect agricultural revenues of different regions and countries, and change patterns of trade in agricultural commodities among regions and countries.
Resources:
Learning
and
knowledge transfer:
http://www.int-res.com/articles/cr/11/c011p019.pdf
http://agecon2.tamu.edu/people/faculty/mccarl-bruce/papers/879.pdf
Evaluation: The capacity for option is lower in developing countries as a result of limited access to markets for crop inputs or outputs, and limited infrastructure development.
Scientific references:
Adams, R.M., B.H. Hurd, S. Lenhart, N. Leary (1998). Effects of global climate change on agriculture: an interpretive review, Climate Res. 11 (1): 19-30.
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