Climate Change and Agriculture »

"Despite its great importance, there are surprisingly few economic studies of the impact of climate on agriculture and how agriculture can adapt under a variety of conditions. This book examines 22 countries across four continents, including both developed and developing economies. It provides both a good analytical basis for additional work and solid results for policy debate concerning income distributional effects such as abatement, adaptation, and equity." Agriculture and grazing are a central sector in the livelihood of many people, particularly in developing countries. This book uses the Ricardian method to examine the impact of climate change on agriculture. The book also quantifies how farmers adapt to climate. The findings suggest that agriculture in developing countries is more sensitive to climate than agriculture in developed countries. Rainfed cropland is generally more sensitive than irrigated cropland and crop land is more sensitive to warming than livestock. The adaptation to climate change results reveal that farmers make many adjustments including switching crops and livestock species, adopting irrigation, and moving between livestock and crops. The results also reveal that impacts and adaptations vary a great deal across landscapes, suggesting that adaptation policies must be location specific. Finally, the book suggests a research agenda for the future.

1 Introduction 1

2 The role of climate in agricultural production 10

3 Literature review of economic impacts of climate change on agriculture 32

4 The Ricardian method 54

5 Modeling adaptation to climate change 65

6 Structural Ricardian models 77

7 Ricardian analyses of aggregate data 84

8 Ricardian models of individual farms 100

9 Adaptation studies 151

10 Structural Ricardian studies 175

11 Summary of results 211

12 Policy implications and future research needs 220

Index 233