Factors Influencing Farmers’ Readiness for Climate Change Adaptation: Southwest Washington, USA & Skåne, Sweden

Abstract: Climate change impacts global agricultural systems through changes in average temperature, precipitation quantity and timing, and extreme weather events. Climate change adaptation (CCA) for agricultural systems will be based on changes to farms’ day-to-day operations and long-range planning, governmental policies and regulations, and broad changes in supply chains. The purpose of this thesis is to increase understanding of factors influencing farmers’ readiness to engage in climate change adaptation. The geographic regions of Southwest Washington, USA and Skåne, Sweden are used as contrasting case studies. Factors are identified through a quantitative survey of farmers and qualitative interviews with key informants. The survey measured farmers’ attitudes toward climate change, CCA, potential barriers, and attributes of the social network they consult when making farm-related decisions. Most quantitative factors differed between the regions. However, both showed positive correlations between how likely a famer is to engage in CCA and how strongly they perceive the barriers to CCA as well as how frequently they incorporate climate change in other decisions. Farmers’ readiness to engage in CCA is influenced by factors which arise from their context (i.e., their social network and the organizations which they interact with) and personal characteristics (i.e., age, level of belief in climate change, perception of barriers, and type of farm). The results presented here can be used by organizations supporting farmers to inform outreach efforts concerning CCA, particularly in SWWA and Skåne, but also in similar areas.