Climate Change is causing summers to be hotter, storms more severe and periods of prolonged drought to appear.
This environmental situation makes the prospects for Europe’s farmers bleak because extreme weather conditions are already influencing crop yields and livestock productivity in Europe.
The European Union is quite concerned with this situation, as it has shown in the report << Climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector in Europe >> published on May 14 (link)
The report (EEA Report No 4/2019) ensures how the European agricultural sector will be affected due to climate change. Trade patterns are expected to affect agricultural incomes in Europe in the future.
Relate to this, in the future, the economic value of European agricultural land may change significantly due to a combination of these cascading impacts. The magnitude of these impacts also depends on the emissions and the socioeconomic scenarios applied.
Intensification of agriculture could take place in northern and western Europe, whereas in southern Europe and especially in the Mediterranean area, a reduction in the relative profitability of agriculture could result in extensification and abandonment of land.
Main climate change impacts on the agriculture sector for the main biogeographical regions
in Europe
The general impacts of climate change on European agriculture could produce a significant loss for the sector: up to 16% loss in EU agricultural income by 2050, with large regional variations. The sector will have to adapt even more to these changes to ensure sustainable agricultural production. Farm-level adaptation can reduce losses caused by extreme events, but knowledge of all the impacts of climate change on agriculture is still limited, especially when the impacts are multiplied or combined with other socio-economic consequences of climate change
