Perceptions of barriers to climate change adaptation by Uppsala farmers

Current emissions are likely to produce substantial impacts for the agricultural sector and the salience for adapting to these changes in the agricultural sector is increasing. While Nordic agriculture is faced with both opportunities and challenges from climate change, a still developing political and institutional structure in combination with an extreme drought during the summer of 2018 is exacerbating existing long-term trends of financial pressure in the sector, particularly for meat and dairy farmers. Previous research has highlighted that there is a relative lack of studies attempting to understand the decision-making process of climate change adaptation and there is a currently a growing field of research focusing on the barriers to adaptation faced by farmers. This study primarily used Grothmann and Patt’s MCCAPP model in order to determine what factors influenced farmers decision-making when deciding to adapt to climate change. The results of this study found that the predominant barrier to adaptation among farmers were uncertainty regarding future climatic impacts, which resulted in a lower confidence in adaptation strategy efficacy to produce financial stability and returns. Climate mitigation was also identified as a potential trade-off when pursuing adaptation strategies. To a lesser degree, farmers also attested to farm-level differences, such as the availability of water resources as impacting the strategies that they were able to pursue. Opportunities to facilitate adaptation through institutional support was identified, as farmers both require better information regarding adaptation strategies and subsequent trade-offs and synergies it might create in relation to farmers priority issues such as financial viability and climate mitigation. More effective means of financial assistance to counteract the effects of extreme climatic conditions was also identified. Lastly, social capital was an important facilitator of adaptation implementation, but one that is threatened due to the continuingly deteriorating socio-economic conditions that farmers experience in their sector