Statewide study identifies needs and practices of farmers to adapt to climate change in California

A recent survey of California farmers showed that 67% of the farmers agree that climate change is happening. Farmers attend a workshop about the decision support tool CalAgroClimate in Tulare.

“Climate Smart Agriculture: Assessing Needs and Perceptions of California's Farmers,” published on June 14, 2024, in Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, is an article based on the results of statewide survey by UC ANR scientists and their collaborators. This effort is part of the USDA-NIFA Pathways to Climate-Smart Ag project. The survey was distributed statewide and 341 farmers responded.

The findings showed that 67% of the farmers agree that climate change is happening, and 53.1% agreed that actions are required. Significantly, historically underrepresented farmers were “very concerned” about climate change-related impacts related to water resources, temperatures and natural disasters.

The study found that some farmers are currently implementing adaptation practices related to water resources management, soil health and renewable energy and are also seeking insurance and government assistance programs to enhance their resilience to climate change. Farmers also expressed “interest” and “high need” for more information on those adaptation practices to manage various challenges of farming in the current and future variable climates.

The study identified that more than half of the farmers believe the most “significant barriers” to adaptation are mainly government regulations (53.1%), followed by high input cost (46.9%), labor access/cost (35.2%), access to water (33.5%), and access to investment capital/funds (32.4%).

The needs assessment also established that farmers use climate decision-support tools (47.5%), mostly weather stations; and 51.9% indicated their interest in using online tools designed to translate climate information into forms that support production decision-making. On extension education and information access, farmers responded that they will likely attend workshops to learn about adaptation practices (60.8%).

The findings of this needs assessment are being used to develop and deliver climate smart agriculture programs for farmers and ranchers in California.

The project is led by Tapan Pathak, UC Cooperative Extension specialist in climate adaptation in agriculture based at UC Merced, as the project director. Steven Ostoja, director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture California Climate Hub, and Vikram Koundinya, UCCE evaluation specialist, serve as co-PDs, with support from Leslie Roche, UCCE rangeland management specialist; Daniele Zaccaria, UC Davis associate professor and UCCE agricultural water management specialist; and Mark Cooper, UC Davis assistant professor in community and regional development.

The article was written by a team with diverse expertise in climate and agricultural sciences, social sciences, and extension academics and evaluation experts. Authors include Samuel Ikendi, Natalia Pinzon, Koundinya, Namah Taku-Forchu, Roche, Ostoja, Lauren Parker, Zaccaria, Cooper, Jairo Diaz-Ramirez, Sonja Brodt, Mark Battany, Jhalendra Rijal and Pathak.

Reference

Ikendi, S., Pinzon, N., Koundinya, V., Taku-Forchu, N, Roche, L., Ostoja, S., Parker, L., Zaccaria, D., Cooper, M., Diaz-Ramirez, J., Brodt, S., Battany, M., Rijal, J., & Pathak, T. (2024). Climate smart agriculture: Assessing needs and perceptions of California's farmers. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 8, 1395547. https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2024.1395547

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