Quality of water is the bottleneck for agriculture

The consequences of climate change for town and country planning and the environment are now attracting a great deal of attention from politicians and scientists. But what about the effects of climate change on European agriculture? What is striking here is the direct relationship between climate change and water management.

Professor Simone Orlandini, a research scientist at the University of Florence, has been looking closely at the impact of climate change on agriculture as part of the COST 734 science network. He concentrates on Europe's most important crops, such as maize, grazing land, wheat, potatoes, sugar beet, apples and citrus fruit, examining the effects of drought, intense rainstorms, frost, heat and disease. The team looked at past, present and future climate trends and their effects.

Orlandini explains: "These trends will be used to develop suggestions and warning systems. It is clear that higher temperatures, intense rainstorms and drought have relevant consequences. It is estimated that, depending on the crop, production will decline by an average of ten per cent." read more »