Climate change and agriculture in Europe
The European Commission, DG XII, has produced a book summarizing the results of a project which assessed the impact of climate change on agriculture in Europe. The CLAIRE project, involving some 16 research institutes from across Europe, was funded by the Community's Environment and Climate programme. The project team made a number of projections of climate change, in particular, increases in mean temperatures. From these projections, they assessed the possible consequences on different crops in Europe. In general, they suggest that increases in mean temperature would increase the difference in crop productivity between northern and southern Europe. A warmer and longer growing season would allow a greater range of crops to be grown in northern Europe, while crops which are presently grown in both northern and southern Europe receive more benefit from warmer temperatures in northern Europe. According to the report, in areas affected by water shortages, such as southern Europe, the variability in annual yields will increase, while the mean annual yield will decrease. Furthermore, climatic variability from year to year will also affect yields. The results of the project suggest that research is needed into the effects of climate change on individual crops, with the aim of determining what changes in growing patterns or variety may lessen the negative effects of climate change on yields.