Economic feasibility of organic farms and risk management strategies

Organic farmers must face different risks than conventional farmers Due to the special features of management of their productive system, and due to the specific characteristics of their cultivations. This study analyses the specific risks that organic farmers must manage as well as the different strategies that there are developing nowadays. Even if the Spanish farmers rely on the insurance system to manage their risks, today organic farmers do not have specific insurance products to manage them. The methodology and results presented in this study include a risk analysis carried out by evaluating statistical, probabilistic, and stochastic properties of the organic production data. We evaluate and discuss the aspects of our study that relate to other international studies. Productions considered in this research are olives, vineyard and cereals. Specific risk management strategies developed by organic farmers – in contrast with conventional farmers – have been identified and quantified, showing the different attitudes based on their risk perception and the potential vulnerability of their farms. Agricultural insurance tool for organic farmers in Spain has been studied and analyzed as an important risk managemen

Implications of climate change for rice farming in the Doñana wetland (SW Spain)

Climate change impacts are expected to affect rice farming and wetlands welfare in the Doñana protected Area, due to decreases in quantity and quality water supply and higher temperatures. The largest rice farming area is closely located to the Doñana wetlands in the Guadalquivir river basin estuary (South Western of Spain)

Economic valuation of the impacts of climate change in Agriculture in Europe

The objective of this study is to provide a European assessment of the potential effects of climate change on agricultural crop production computing monetary estimates of these impacts for the European agricultural sector. The future scenarios incorporate socio economic projections derived from several SRES scenarios and climate projections obtained from global climate models and regional climate models. The quantitative results are based simulations using the GTAP general equilibrium models system that includes all relevant economic activities. The estimated changes in the exports and imports of agricultural goods, value of GDP and crop prices under the climate and socio-economic scenarios show significant regional differences between northern and southern European countries. The patterns are positive effects except on Mediterranean countries. The most important increases seem to concern the continental region, where the productivity increases enlarge GDP more intensively due to the importance of agricultural sector in the region. The monetary estimates also show that in all cases uncertainty derived from socio-economic scenarios has a larger effect than the ones derived from climate scenarios

Cambio climático y disponibilidad de recursos

For the last 10,000 years we have been living in a remarkable stable climate that allowed the whole of the human development to take place •In all that time, though the medieval warming and the Little Ice Age, there was only a variation of 1ºC •Now we see the potential for sudden change of between 2 and 6ºC –We just don’t know what the world is like at those temperatures, we have no idea if we can live in it

Production of food and energy in a changing climate

For the last 10,000 years we have been living in a remarkable stable climate that allowed the whole of the human development to take place • In all that time, though the medieval warming and the Little Ice Age, there was only a variation of 1ºC • Now we see the potential for sudden change of between 2 and 6ºC – We just don’t know what the world is like at those temperatures, we have no idea if we can live in it

Mitigación del cambio climático mediante técnicas de la agricultura ecológica en España

El Protocolo de Kyoto establece unos objetivos de control de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero que se definen más detalladamente en los acuerdos post-Kyoto de las Conferencias de las Partes (COP). En este contexto, la Comisión Europea pretende incluir el apoyo a las acciones destinadas a controlar las emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (mitigar) el cambio climático en su estrategia de Desarrollo Rural para el periodo 2008 - 2013. Este estudio tiene como objetivos identificar las prácticas agrarias de la agricultura ecológica que reducen la emisión de gases con efecto invernadero y sugerir instrumentos de política agraria destinados a apoyar los cambios necesarios para lograr dicha reducción. Para ello el estudio desarrolla metodologías de caracterización de prácticas agrarias con potencial de mitigación, de evaluación de los costes de implementación y de análisis de las barreras e incentivos para su implantación. Los resultados sugieren que la agricultura ecológica tiene un potencial de mitigar el cambio climático. El estudio forma parte de un proyecto financiado por la Comisión Europea (PICCMAT, 2008) que tiene como objetivo formular recomendaciones sobre la capacidad de la agricultura para mitigar el cambio climático para su incorporación en la Política Agraria Común, focalizados en incentivos articulados a través de las medidas agroambientales o en la obligación de su implementación mediante un sistema de condicionalidad en el que los agricultores reciben la totalidad de sus ayudas solamente si cumplen determinados requisitos medioambientales

Crop yields response to water pressures in the Ebro basin in Spain: risk and water policy implications

he increasing pressure on water systems in the Mediterranean enhances existing water conflicts and threatens water supply for agriculture. In this context, one of the main priorities for agricultural research and public policy is the adaptation of crop yields to water pressures. This paper focuses on the evaluation of hydrological risk and water policy implications for food production. Our methodological approach includes four steps. For the first step, we estimate the impacts of rainfall and irrigation water on crop yields. However, this study is not limited to general crop production functions since it also considers the linkages between those economic and biophysical aspects which may have an important effect on crop productivity. We use statistical models of yield response to address how hydrological variables affect the yield of the main Mediterranean crops in the Ebro river basin. In the second step, this study takes into consideration the effects of those interactions and analyzes gross value added sensitivity to crop production changes. We then use Montecarlo simulations to characterize crop yield risk to water variability. Finally we evaluate some policy scenarios with irrigated area adjustments that could cope in a context of increased water scarcity. A substantial decrease in irrigated land, of up to 30% of total, results in only moderate losses of crop productivity. The response is crop and region specific and may serve to prioritise adaptation strategies

Risk of water scarcity and water policy implications for crop production in the Ebro basin in Spain

The increasing pressure on water systems in the Mediterranean enhances existing water conflicts and threatens water supply for agriculture. In this context, one of the main priorities for agricultural research and public policy is the adaptation of crop yields to water pressures. This paper focuses on the evaluation of hydrological risk and water policy implications for food production. Our methodological approach includes four steps. For the first step, we estimate the impacts of rainfall and irrigation water on crop yields. However, this study is not limited to general crop production functions since it also considers the linkages between those economic and biophysical aspects which may have an important effect on crop productivity. We use statistical models of yield response to address how hydrological variables affect the yield of the main Mediterranean crops in the Ebro River Basin. In the second step, this study takes into consideration the effects of those interactions and analyzes gross value added sensitivity to crop production changes. We then use Montecarlo simulations to characterize crop yield risk to water variability. Finally we evaluate some policy scenarios with irrigated area adjustments that could cope in a context of increased water scarcity. A substantial decrease in irrigated land, of up to 30% of total, results in only moderate losses of crop productivity. The response is crop and region specific and may serve to prioritise adaptation strategies

Análisis de la conducta aseguradora de los productores de aceituna en España

Son numerosos los estudios sobre agricultura ecológica que tratan de señalar las virtudes que la gestión del suelo desde el punto de vista de la producción ecológica (Lampkin, 2003; SEAE, 2006; Simón, 2002). Algunas de las prácticas propias de esta modalidad de producción pueden mejorar considerablemente la capacidad de adaptación y/o mitigación de la planta a determinados riesgos a los que se enfrenta (Medina et al., 2006; PICCMAT, 2008). De igual forma, estas técnicas pueden contribuir a mejorar la capacidad de reacción de la propia planta, en el caso de haber sufrido las consecuencias de algún factor climatológico adverso (Lampkin, 2001). A este respecto conviene destacar que, según algunos estudios elaborados por el Servicio de Investigación Agraria de E.E.U.U., la utilización de técnicas propias de la agricultura ecológica, tales como la mezcla de variedades en la explotación puede emular en cierta medida la variabilidad natural de las antiguas variedades heterogéneas, permitiendo una mayor flexibilidad de respuesta del cultivo frente a condiciones de estrés como plagas, enfermedades, sequía o heladas. (USDA, 2001; USDA, 2004)

La agricultura española y el cambio climático

Debido a las interacciones del sector agrícola con el medio natural, el cambio climático supondrá grandes cambios para la agricultura. Si bien muchos de estos cambios se darán por un aumento en los riesgos a los que expone la agricultura, también cabe destacar las oportunidades que se crearán debido a los impactos heterogéneos que acarreará el cambio climático. Frente a estos riesgos y oportunidades, la agricultura deberá colaborar en la mitigación de gases de efecto invernadero así como desarrollar estrategias de adaptación para asegurar la productividad en el futuro. Este artículo presenta un resumen de los impactos climáticos y de los riesgos y oportunidades que supondrá el cambio climático para la agricultura en España. Luego se discutirán las oportunidades de adaptación y de mitigación que existen para la agricultura