Economic Aspects of Climate Adaptation in Agriculture

Adapting to climate change is a major challenge that must be faced above all by those sectors whose production takes place outdoors. Apart from the leisure industry, this includes agriculture. Especially in the east of Austria, the increasing lack of water is a threat to agricultural production. Irrigation of agricultural land is one way of adapting to climate change. Its role and importance are presented in this report. If this option is not available, yield losses in agriculture are to be expected. This also affects companies that can no longer process locally produced agricultural goods if yield losses occur. The economic impacts are quantified by scenarios developed in the project BEAT that analysed climate change impact on agriculture. The resulting economic analysis assesses the consequences in terms of employment and value added. In all the scenarios examined, a decline in agricultural production is to be expected. Due to the reduced demand for inputs and reduced processing of agricultural products, value added and employment in the national economy will decrease.