Attitudes to climate change adaptation in agriculture - A case study of Oland, Sweden

Despite realization that climatic changes and extreme weather events are ravaging the agriculture sector, climate change adaptation by farmers is slow in Europe. There are few studies that have explored the capacity of farmers to adapt to a changing climate, especially in the Nordic countries. A mix-method design i.e. a combination of action research and explorative research approaches was adopted. Perceptions of farmers was elicited using a questionnaire survey, which achieved a 33% response rate (81 out of 243) and in total 51 interviews were conducted with various stakeholders. Data was analyzed using one sample- and two sample t-test and ANOVA in a commercial software GraphPad Prism. In the article, both climatic and non-climatic drivers, affecting perception of farmers to adopt climate smart agricultural practices are presented and various short- and long-term interventions made by farmers to cope with climate change impacts, along with their positive and negative outcomes are discussed. It is found that stakeholders have poor understanding of land and water resources carrying capacity, are influenced by "post exposure-let down" mindset and are skeptical to climate change. Moreover, two kinds of apparent stakeholder systems that give rise to "passive" or "active" farmers, i.e. a top-down control system, and a bottom-up facilitating support system, were identified. It is recommended for authorities to consider farmers' expectations and education levels while designing advisory training programs, to introduce innovative, incentive driven, support policies for farmers and to consider shifting the current subsidies system to an outcome-based one.