EU CAP Network workshop ‘Enhancing food security under changing weather patterns: farm adaptation’

Event description and objectives

The Farm to Fork Strategyis 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. 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 will complement and build on the outcomes of the Seminar and continue the discussions from another angle. It will focus 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 will take 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 will be 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