Global ChangeIntersection of Nature and Culture

Where might farmers turn for help with climate change?

Saturday, December 12th, 2009

In the Online First edition of Climatic Change, Tyler Tarnoczi and Fikret Berkes assess^1,2 the sources and availability of information about climate adaptation to farmers in the Canadian provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta.

Farmers rely on several information sources for agricultural practices, which will likely be vital in helping food producers learn how to adapt to climate warming:

• social networks/experiential learning
• government
• industry (e.g., seed, machinery)
• producer and conservation organizations
• media

Here’s what they found…

Actions taken to reduce vulnerability to climate change are ultimately determined by the perception of impacts and the cost of the adaptation response, but there has to be information available on possible adaptation responses. Of the five general sources of information described above, there is not one single dominant information source used by Prairie farmers to learn about climate change adaptation. While the most common source of information was social sources and personal experience, industry played a large role; by contrast, government information, direction and coordination for climate change adaptation was lacking.

There is potential for producer organizations to play a role as knowledge brokers, or bridging organizations, facilitating open dialogue between producers at the farm-level and policymakers at the government-level. With appropriate capacity building, these organizations could help facilitate bottom-up flow of producer-level
information, enable self-organization among producers, and provide platforms for information exchange.

Barriers to adaptation are many. Long-term benefits of climate change adaptation may be hidden when producers are faced with significant short-term costs or financial crises. National-level adaptation options are difficult to prioritize even in countries with high levels of economic and technical capacity. Information and capacity are not the only factors; “what is known, understood and disseminated as information” and issues of power and control of knowledge are also important. Sources of information most likely to be useful for farmers are farm organizations, with accountability to farmers, and…not those that have their own profit motives. Programs that involve observable trials, two-way dialogue, and implementation at the producer level would allow for the co-production of knowledge that can lead to learning and adapting to a changing climate.

The authors convey the importance of bottom-up networking and organization among farmers rather than simply relying on top-down approaches—like government support, which they argue has diminished in recent years because of the decline of agricultural extension offices.   This may be bad, however, because large-scale efforts by government may be needed in terms of basic research and sheer scaling power (although see below).   Adaptation is going to require a cohesive integration of top-down and bottom up approaches.

It’s also worth pointing out that the diversity of these information sources means that farmers could get mixed messages in terms of what’s best for adaptation–messages subject to the influences of money and power.  For instance, seed companies may advocate genetically modified crops less susceptible to drought while, at the same time, the government is subsidizing increased irrigation and advocating its use through the extension services.  Conservation organizations might suggest shifts to more sustainable forms of agriculture or to crop types more suitable to new climatic conditions.

These potential differences aren’t necessarily bad in terms of assembling and considering all possible types of responses.  But power and influence could alter the process in ways that constrain future options.  In The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture, Wendell Berry described how agricultural extension offices were a power multiplier in that they advocated many of the technological innovations that played a large role in causing the industrialization of American farms, concentrating wealth and power into the hands of a few, and leading to attendant degradation of cultural and ecological systems.  What institutions advocate in terms of adaptation practices should therefore also be scrutinized in terms of their contribution to long-term sustainability.

¹Tarnoczi, T.J. and F. Berkes (in press) Sources of information for farmers’ adaptation practices in Canada’s Prairie agro-ecosystem. Climatic Change

²Bowdoin people can access the article here.

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Photo Credit:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/larachris/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0