EU CAP Network workshop ‘Enhancing food security under changing weather patterns: farm adaptation’
The EU CAP Network workshop ‘Enhancing food security under changing weather patterns: farm adaptation’ took place on Tuesday 14 and Wednesday 15 March 2023.
-
- CET
- English
- In-person
Event description and objectives
The Farm to Fork Strategy is at the heart of the European Green Deal, and aims to accelerate the transition to a sustainable food system that ensures food security, nutrition, and public health, making sure that everyone has access to sufficient, safe, nutritious and sustainable food.
The EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change sets out how the European Union can adapt to the unavoidable impacts of climate change and become climate resilient by 2050. The strategy seeks a smarter, faster and more systemic adaptation. It includes a European platform for adaptation knowledge (Climate-ADAPT), developing and rolling out adaptation solutions to help reduce climate-related risk, increase climate protection and safeguard the availability of fresh water, and actively mainstream climate resilience considerations in all relevant policy fields.
In addition, the Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to build societies’ resilience to future threats such as impacts of climate change, forest fires, food insecurity and disease outbreaks and will support a green recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic. Events like the pandemic and climate change are putting agriculture all over the world under pressure and the unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine and a global commodity price boom are exposing the vulnerabilities of our food system (Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems).
Climate change directly affects European food production and key natural resources: biodiversity, soil, water. In the short term, irregular and extreme weather events like heavy rains provoking severe floods, heat waves or droughts may affect food productivity and stability at local or regional scale. In the long-term, scenarios of changing climate patterns (i.e., temperature increase or step reduction of seasonal rainfall) show a permanent impact on agricultural productivity, especially in southern countries, as well as on the availability, good state and dynamics of key natural resources. In both the short and the long term, weather unpredictability and highly variable weather patterns challenge farm planning and management.
In addition, measures tackling climate change may also have an impact on the availability of some agricultural inputs. Agriculture accounts for nearly one-third of global GHG emissions and is highly dependent on different types of inputs, many of them energy consuming (i.e., fertilisers, machinery).
In December 2022 the EU CAP Network Seminar "Smart circular farming to address high energy and fertiliser prices" tackled the current crisis by underlining the urgency of efficient and sustainable use of energy and fertilisers to ensure farm resilience, competitiveness, and food security during times of high-priced inputs.
This workshop complemented and build on the outcomes of the Seminar and continued the discussions from another angle. It focused on innovative solutions and knowledge that are needed to strengthen farm resilience facing climate change effects especially discussing farm adaptation responding to changing weather patterns.
The event took place in a region that is exposed to the challenges related to the workshop topic. The Emilia-Romagna region is affected by extreme weather events, with high impact on yields, quality, and stability of farm productions. Research and innovation projects, EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and other types of innovative projects in the area are addressing these impacts, seeking to improve adaptive capacity, and supporting farmers’ decisions, and building specific solutions on water management such as improved irrigation systems. Visits to some of these initiatives were part of the workshop programme.
Overall aim of the workshop
Find and share innovative solutions and enhance knowledge on farm adaptation to changing weather patterns.
Specific objectives
- Exchange knowledge on successful practices, opportunities and tools relevant for adapting farming to changing weather patterns, while increasing farm resilience and enhancing cooperation at both farm and local level
- Identify challenges and explore potential solutions for dealing with changing weather patterns related to climate change
- Identify needs from practice and possible knowledge gaps that may be filled by research
- Promote networking among EIP-AGRI Operational Groups and other type of innovative projects, Horizon Europe multi-actor research projects and relevant stakeholders
More information
- EU Soil Mission: https://research-and-innovation.ec.europa.eu/funding/funding-opportunities/funding-programmes-and-open-calls/horizon-europe/eu-missions-horizon-europe/soil-health-and-food_e
- 2023 EU Agricultural Research and Innovation conference (Brussels)30 May-1 June 2023 with the possibility to join field visits on 2 June 2023: https://agriculture.ec.europa.eu/events/2023-eu-agriresearch-conference-2023-05-31_en
- Mission Adaptation to Climate Change: http://bit.ly/3FMpmvS
Final agenda
(PDF – 173.6 KB)
Additional info
Organiser
Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development
EU CAP Network
Support Facility for Innovation & Knowledge exchange | EIP-AGRI
EU CAP NetworkMedia
-
-
-
-
-
+9
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
Keywords
Resources
Speaker and facilitator bios
(PDF – 646.76 KB)
Participants list
(PDF – 394.9 KB)
Projects' information
(PDF – 334.86 KB)
Introductory presentation – André Vizinho, Support Facility ‘Innovation & Knowledge exchange | EIP-AGRI’
(PDF – 4.46 MB)
Current and Future Climate Change Impacts on European Agricultural Production – Martin Claverie, European Commission Joint Research Centre Ispra
(PDF – 4.2 MB)
EU Climate Adaptation Strategy and key climate change adaptation objectives in the Common Agricultural Policy – Irene Bonvissuto, European Commission DG Climate Action
(PDF – 1.53 MB)
EIP-AGRI and EU CAP Network – Anikó Seregélyi, European Commission DG Agriculture and Rural Development
(PDF – 4.05 MB)
Breakout 1: annual crops - Dea Hvillum, Finland
(PDF – 1.14 MB)
Breakout 2: permanent crops - Keyvan Ramezanian
(PDF – 2.54 MB)
Breakout 2: permanent crops - María José Bastidas, Portugal
(PDF – 1.82 MB)
Breakout 3: livestock and dairy - Mireia Llorente, Spain
(PDF – 2.31 MB)
Breakout 3: livestock and dairy - Marta Cortegano, Portugal
(PDF – 2.37 MB)
Breakout 4: overall farm management & planning - Laurent Huber, France
(PDF – 1.31 MB)
Breakout 4: overall farm management & planning - Jochen Buchmaier, Austria
(PDF – 1.69 MB)
Ana Patricia López Blanco, European Commission, DG Agriculture and Rural Development
(PDF – 2.22 MB)
Irene Bonvissuto, European Commission DG Climate Action
(PDF – 1.04 MB)
