Search

In Europe, increasing the area of legume crops has been identified as a key measure to achieve the objectives set by the European Green Deal and transition toward more sustainable food systems. Although the role of grain legumes in climate change mitigation has been closely examined, little research has focused on how climate change will challenge the development of these crops. This article systematically reviews recent simulation studies to assess the impact of climate change on grain legume performances in Europe and the effect of adaptation strategies. Forty papers using process-based, ecological niche, or statistical models were selected to simulate the response of eight grain legume species to future climate (2020–2100) in Europe. The lack of data on adaptation strategies in Europe was compensated for by enlarging the study area to climatically similar regions. The review highlights a notable imbalance between research about soybean versus other grain legumes, with soybean representing approximately 80% of selected studies. Studies focused on soybean found good agreement, with yield or suitability gains found in northern Europe and a higher probability of yield losses in southern and south-eastern Europe. While a similar spatial pattern may be expected for other grain legumes, the scarcity of data makes this result more uncertain. The review also shows that several adaptation strategies have the potential to mitigate the negative impact of climate change on grain legume performances or enhance its positive impact. The most promising strategies tested include irrigation, change in sowing date, and cultivar choice. In addition, we identify several knowledge gaps that, if addressed, would support legume development in Europe. In particular, key species such as field pea, faba bean, lentil, and chickpea remain blind spots, despite their prominent role in European environmental, agricultural, and nutritional policies. Other knowledge gaps include a lack of accounting for crop response to elevated CO 2 , ozone, and future biotic pressure, and a limited range of adaptation strategies tested and indicators assessed. Implementing multi-criteria analyses that involve stakeholders would help identify relevant inputs and outputs for future simulations. • We review 40 papers assessing grain legume response to climate change in Europe. • Grain legumes other than soybean are blind spots despite their role in policies. • For soybean, yield gains are expected in the north and yield losses in the south. • Adaptation strategies can mitigate the impact of climate change on grain legumes. • We identify several knowledge gaps, including a lack of data on key legume species. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture is the one of the most important priorities and economic activities in developing countries. Climate change, which is already affecting the society at a global level, has an impact on the increase in magnitude and frequency of severe weather events. As such, both agriculture and industry are affected by climate change and their revenues decrease, thus affecting the entire economic cycle. The aim of this paper is to present theoretical considerations regarding climate change induced severe weather events and to highlight some practical techniques used in operational meteorology in order to improve the forecast of severe weather events. By analysing the morphology and dynamics of thunderstorms, by applying the correct parametrization in weather forecast models, nowcasting and by issuing on time weather alerts, financial losses may be limited. Throughout this paper, the parametrization of convective cells will be described, operational forecasting techniques will be presented and the application of ingredient-based forecasting methodology will be discussed. Severe weather associated hazards like hail, heavy rainfall, damaging winds and even frost will be analysed in order to establish a local climatology of these phenomena. With the aid of Weather Surveillance Doppler Radar (WSDR) and by associating some instability convection indices with synoptic charts, the agriculture-related severe weather events can be identified and their formation pattern can be established. Further on, by establishing an analysis methodology and by compelling all available data, weather-related hazard maps are to be compelled and are to be used by agrometeorology forecasters in order to seek viable solutions. The Western part of Romania is characterized as having a moderatecontinental climate, with hot influences from the Southern part of Europe and with humid advections from the South-Western part of Europe. In combination with cold advections from the Northern Europe, both summer as well as winter specific agriculture-related severe weather events are present [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In front of escalating resource limitations in agriculture, this study emphasizes the critical need for efficient crop cultivation. Focusing particularly on tomatoes, a staple in global diets, the research aims to sustenably enhance productivity. Recognizing productivity as a key economic indicator, the study highlights the pivotal role of energyefficient practices in addressing challenges posed by climate change and depleting natural resources. By optimizing energy use in agricultural processes, this research not only improves economic efficiency but also positions the sector for resilience and innovation in a resource-constrained environment. Through an in-depth analysis of data from Eurostat covering the 2014-2022 period, we trace the trends in greenhouse tomato cultivation across Europe, evaluating changes in cultivation areas and productivity. This research offers insights into how different European countries have adapted their agricultural practices in response to environmental and economic pressures and in the same time, it underscores the need for continued innovation and adaptation in agricultural practices to meet the demands of a growing global population under increasingly constrained environmental conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture contributes to global warming mainly through the emission of methane and nitrous oxide. Nitrous oxide is particularly important, as it accounts for a significant share of total nitrogen emissions from arable land It is produced as a result of anaerobic microbiological changes of nitrogen introduced into the soil along with mineral fertilizers. Changes in weather patterns in response to climate change may significantly affect the efficiency of fertilizer nitrogen in agriculture, and, consequently, entail undesirable environmental effects. This issue is of particular importance in view of the dominant role that this fertilizer element plays in agriculture, and, on the other hand, due to the global environmental risk within the “nitrogen cycle”. The analysis, carried out in this paper indicates, that transformations of nitrogen compounds in the soil, caused predominantly by the climate condition, result in nitrogen release from the agricultural production area. The dispersion in the form of molecular nitrogen (N2) is mainly the result of denitrification processes. By this way over 50% of nitrogen lost from agriculture is dissipated from the agricultural land. From the agricultural point of view, denitrification is a process that limits the resources of available nitrogen, but from the environmental viewpoint, this process should be considered as a natural mechanism of environmental self-purification and water protection. Although it constitutes only about 25% of the total loss of this element the dilution of nitrogen from agricultural areas by leaching, is considered to be the most cumbersome for the water environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many countries have some kind of energy-system transformation either planned or ongoing for various reasons, such as to curb carbon emissions or to compensate for the phasing out of nuclear energy. One important component of these transformations is the overall reduction in energy demand. It is generally acknowledged that the domestic sector represents a large share of total energy consumption in many countries. Increased energy efficiency is one factor that reduces energy demand, but behavioral approaches (known as “sufficiency”) and their respective interventions also play important roles. In this paper, we address citizens’ heterogeneity regarding both their current behaviors and their willingness to realize their sufficiency potentials—that is, to reduce their energy consumption through behavioral change. We collaborated with three Swiss cities for this study. A survey conducted in the three cities yielded thematic sets of energy-consumption behavior that various groups of participants rated differently. Using this data, we identified four groups of participants with different patterns of both current behaviors and sufficiency potentials. The paper discusses intervention types and addresses citizens’ heterogeneity and behaviors from a city-based perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Droughts and floods are increasing worldwide. • Changes in soil moisture affect the soil microbiome. • Climate change affects the soil environment. • Changes in the soil environment affect crop production. • Drought and floods have a negative impact on agriculture. Climate change is progressing and is already visible to the naked eye around the world. Hydrological events associated with climate change, i.e. floods and droughts, have reached extreme levels in recent years. Researchers warn that these phenomena will continue to intensify. According to recent reports, the number of extreme weather events, including hydrological phenomena, has increased by 60% in Europe over the last three decades. Both water shortages and water surpluses affect the soil environment and its functions. This in turn has a direct impact on crops and agriculture. For example, in the US alone, droughts and floods were responsible for more than 70% of the decline in cereal yields in 2011 alone. However, the soil environment is a complex ecosystem that is not yet fully understood, making it difficult to predict the impact of climate change on its quality and functioning. In this paper, we discuss the effects of floods and droughts on the soil microbiome and the implications of these changes for agriculture. We suggest that changes in soil moisture are an important factor affecting crop growth and yield, which is of great importance for global food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) is one response to the challenges faced by agriculture due to climate change. As with other sustainability transitions, technological innovation is highlighted as playing a critical role, however, the adoption and diffusion of technological innovations in OECD countries is slow. The aim of this paper is to identify key socio-economic barriers, in terms of supply and demand, that inhibit the adoption and diffusion of CSA technological innovations in Europe. To achieve this aim, a theoretical framework is constructed based on a literature review of socio-economic barriers effecting adoption and diffusion. This framework is explored with data from semi-structured interviews with CSA technology providers and members of agricultural supply chains, such as farmers associations and consumer goods producers (the end-users of the technology). Data was collected on the barriers they experienced, with interviews conducted in the Netherlands, France, Switzerland and Italy. This data was thematically coded and categorised to identify key barrier typologies. The results demonstrate that barriers exist on both the demand (user) and supply (technology provider) sides. The paper provides recommendations for increasing the adoption and diffusion of CSA technological innovations, as well as implications for the CSA and innovation literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Coupled atmosphere-ocean general circulation models (GCMs) simulate different realizations of possible future climates at global scale under contrasting scenarios of land-use and greenhouse gas emissions. Such data require several additional processing steps before it can be used to drive impact models. Spatial downscaling, typically by regional climate models (RCM), and bias-correction are two such steps that have already been addressed for Europe. Yet, the errors in resulting daily meteorological variables may be too large for specific model applications. Crop simulation models are particularly sensitive to these inconsistencies and thus require further processing of GCM-RCM outputs. Moreover, crop models are often run in a stochastic manner by using various plausible weather time series (often generated using stochastic weather generators) to represent climate time scale for a period of interest (e.g. 2000 ± 15 years), while GCM simulations typically provide a single time series for a given emission scenario. To inform agricultural policy-making, data on near- and medium-term decadal time scale is mostly requested, e.g. 2020 or 2030. Taking a sample of multiple years from these unique time series to represent time horizons in the near future is particularly problematic because selecting overlapping years may lead to spurious trends, creating artefacts in the results of the impact model simulations. This paper presents a database of consolidated and coherent future daily weather data for Europe that addresses these problems. Input data consist of daily temperature and precipitation from three dynamically downscaled and bias-corrected regional climate simulations of the IPCC A1B emission scenario created within the ENSEMBLES project. Solar radiation is estimated from temperature based on an auto-calibration procedure. Wind speed and relative air humidity are collected from historical series. From these variables, reference evapotranspiration and vapour pressure deficit are estimated ensuring consistency within daily records. The weather generator ClimGen is then used to create 30 synthetic years of all variables to characterize the time horizons of 2000, 2020 and 2030, which can readily be used for crop modelling studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]