Extending the boundaries of climate change research: A discussion on agriculture

Global environmental change is one of the most significant research and policy issues facing humankind. Although vast financial and human resources are being allocated to climate change research, there are numerous knowledge gaps between understanding climate variations and human responses, particularly in the area of farm adaptation. In this paper, we argue that four issues need to be addressed, in order to narrow these gaps. First, greater attention needs to be directed towards impact assessment. Second, future researchers should consider critical methodologies and theories clearly articulated in cognate disciplines. Third, we need to have an improved understanding of how present agriculture adapts to both climatic and societal forces. Lastly, we need to have an improved understanding of the decision-making process. We address these issues by drawing upon three areas of research: (i) the climate change and impact assessment literature; (ii) the natural hazards literature; and (iii) the agricultural restructuring literature, drawn primarily from the disciplines of rural geography and rural sociology. From a review of this literature, we argue that each area provides an incomplete assessment of the relationship between climate change and agriculture in developed countries. Consequently, we conclude that an approach which situates farm-level decision making in relation to both broad structural (including biophysical) and internal forces, provides for a greater understanding of the nexus between climate change and farm adaptation.