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LUCSUS researcher will gather farmers’ experiences of the extreme summer drought

Potatoes

Last summer's extreme drought hit farmers and horse stables in county Skåne hard. Yields were smaller than normal and the price of fodder has increased.  Now, researchers from LUCSUS and Lund University want to gather farmers’ experiences of the drought to find out more about the major challenges to adapt the Swedish agricultural sector. 

– We are interested in how different famers handled the drought. What were the most pressing problems and how did they attempt to solve them? What support did they get from state and local authorities? But we also want to ask about what reflections they make today; what were the lasting impacts of the drought? And would they be able to handle another heat wave?, says Tomas Germundsson from the Department of Human Geography, and Sara Brogaard from LUCSUS.

They have received funding from Formas for one year. During that time they will conduct a number of focus groups and interviews with different categories of famers, both conventional farms and organic farms, as well as vegetable growers, horse breeders and horse riding schools. The researchers also want to get in contact with different organisations that represent farmers.

– It’s important to start talking to people now, before the next growing season starts, and you have time to forget what happened. We also want to talk to farmers of different generations, since how long you have been farming can matter a great deal for how well prepared you are to handle drought, says Tomas Germundsson.

The experiences that are gathered will be analysed and serve as input for future research grant applications about agriculture and climate adaptation.

– Based on what we get in, I think that we can get good insight into what the barriers and opportunities for climate adaptation are. Questions that we want to explore further centers on the role the individual, contra what the state and authorities can do, concludes Sara Brogaard.

 

 

Climate Change & Resilience

This research falls under LUCSUS' research theme Climate Change & Resilience. 

About the Researcher

Sara Broogard's research focus is on livelihoods in relation to land change processes and climate variability/change.

To Sara Brogaard's personal page.

About the Project