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Greetings from C-CIARN Agriculture, According to the latest count, we have approximately 560 members in our network across Canada and beyond. We are looking forward to keeping you informed about climate change and agricultural issues throughout the coming year. Please send us information you might have on relevant research, publications, and events and we will distribute it in our updates. A project at Saskatchewan Research Council, AGRICULTURAL DROUGHT ADAPTATIONS (ADA) now has a web site available for ready access to information related to the main topic. Project summary The purpose of this project is to improve our understanding of current adaptation processes and options in Canadian agriculture. We will use the record to near-record droughts of 2001 and 2002 as analogues of future climate change stresses due to droughts and the nature of the adaptation process. We use five main objectives with regional to national approaches. The research team has considerable expertise in drought impact and adaptation assessment and will involve a user group for integration and two-way communication with other agencies who deal with drought. The results will provide an estimate of current adaptive capacity and will help to decrease vulnerability to future droughts. Food for Thought: Lower-Than-Expected Crop Yield Stimulation with Rising CO2 Concentrations By Stephen Long, Elizabeth Ainsworth, Andrew Leakey, Josef Nösberger, and Donald Ort. Science 30 June 2006 312: 1918-1921 Abstract: Model projections suggest that although increased temperature and decreased soil moisture will act to reduce global crop yields by 2050, the direct fertilization effect of rising carbon dioxide concentration ([CO2]) will offset these losses. The CO2 fertilization factors used in models to project future yields were derived from enclosure studies conducted approximately 20 years ago. Free-air concentration enrichment (FACE) technology has now facilitated large-scale trials of the major grain crops at elevated [CO2] under fully open-air field conditions. In those trials, elevated [CO2] enhanced yield by 50% less than in enclosure studies. This casts serious doubt on projections that rising [CO2] will fully offset losses due to climate change. Adaptation, adaptive capacity and vulnerability By Barry Smit and Johanna Wandel. Global Environmental Change 2006 16(3): 282-292 Abstract: This paper reviews the concept of adaptation of human communities to global changes, especially climate change, in the context of adaptive capacity and vulnerability. It focuses on scholarship that contributes to practical implementation of adaptations at the community scale. In numerous social science fields, adaptations are considered as responses to risks associated with the interaction of environmental hazards and human vulnerability or adaptive capacity. In the climate change field, adaptation analyses have been undertaken for several distinct purposes. Impact assessments assume adaptations to estimate damages to longer term climate scenarios with and without adjustments. Evaluations of specified adaptation options aim to identify preferred measures. Vulnerability indices seek to provide relative vulnerability scores for countries, regions or communities. The main purpose of participatory vulnerability assessments is to identify adaptation strategies that are feasible and practical in communities. The distinctive features of adaptation analyses with this purpose are outlined, and common elements of this approach are described. Practical adaptation initiatives tend to focus on risks that are already problematic, climate is considered together with other environmental and social stresses, and adaptations are mostly integrated or mainstreamed into other resource management, disaster preparedness and sustainable development programs. The 13th PhD workshop on International Climate Policy 27th/28th October 2006 in Leeds, UK. The Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds Leeds, UK Participation is free but students and researchers will be expected to cover travel and living expenses. Please register by 15 September 2006. More details here Weather Shrinks Crop Estimates for Prairies CanWest News Service | Angela Hall | August 26, 2006 REGINA -- Persistent hot, dry days shrivelled hopes for a bumper crop, with Prairie farmers expecting production to decline from last year's levels, Statistics Canada reported Friday. After an optimistic spring in many areas, a string of days with little moisture in July stressed crops and accelerated development, said the agency's production estimate, based on a July 28 to Aug. 6 survey of farmers. Millions of Tonnes of Grain Lost in China Drought Reuters New Service | August 25, 2006 BEIJING - A drought in southwest China, the worst in 50 years, has led to the loss of five million tonnes of grain and damaged more than two million hectares (7,700 sq miles) of farmland, state media said on Thursday. Sichuan province was helping farmers plant crops like potatoes, sweet potatoes and yams which can be harvested later in the year to make up for the grain shortage, one provincial agricultural official told Reuters. Drought ,Water Worries, Cloud Skies for US Farmers Planet Ark | Christine Stebbins | August 23, 2006 CHICAGO, - As the United States bakes in one of the hottest summers since the Dust Bowl years of the 1930s, drought from the Dakotas to Arizona through Alabama has sharpened the focus of farmers on their lifeline: water. Eighty percent of all fresh water consumed in the United States is used to produce food. But years of drought, diversion of water to growing urban areas and, most lately, concerns about global warming are feeding worries. Specifically, farmers fear the US Plains is facing its limits as a world producer of wheat, beef, vegetable oils and other crops due to long-term water shortages. All for now, Ellen Wall (ewall@uoguelph.ca) Co-ordinator, C-CIARN Agriculture (Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network for Agriculture) Blackwood Hall (Room 202) University of Guelph. Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Phone: 519 824 4120 ext 58480 Fax: 519 763 4686 http://www.c-ciarn.uoguelph.ca |
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