What does climate change mean for me? A question not many farmers ask themselves. In regional projects researchers of Plant Research International are helping farmers to get insight into the changes.
Climate change has major consequences for farming practice. A higher temperature will, e.g., allow cultivation of crops now not yet grown in the Netherlands. On the other hand, coastal areas will become saline, availability of fresh water will be lowered, and areas will probably be flooded. And disease pressure will increase as well.
Many farmers are not really thinking about the consequences of climate change for their own farm. Together with farmers, our researchers are now analysing what a different climate means for farm management. In this project they are cooperating with farmers in a region because the situation differs per region. Groningen, e.g., is a province with a large potato acreage and there is great concern that the pressure of the Phytophthora potato disease will increase. A number of farmers in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is combining agriculture and recreation and they are facing salinisation.
Our researchers are interviewing farmers and they are organising meetings about the possible consequences of climate change. Together farmers are thinking about what they can do individually or collectively. The researchers then intend to use these ideas in setting up a climate change garden to demonstrate which new cultivations would be possible on saline soil or in a warmer or wetter climate.