Climate change affects Swiss agriculture too: temperatures are rising, precipitation patterns are changing, and extreme events are on the increase. The KlimAdapt project explores current and expected climate risks, and develops scientific principles for the planning of adaptive measures such as the selection of suitable varieties for plant production.
Agriculture contributes significantly to climate change through the emission of the greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. To enable emissions to be reduced efficiently, we investigate the potential of reduction measures for the Swiss agricultural sector, and refine the National Greenhouse Gas Inventory accordingly. The said inventory serves as a decision-making basis for policy-makers and society.
The agricultural use of soils in many cases leads to the release of CO2 (i.e. soils are CO2 sources) and to a reduction of the carbon content of the soil. On the other hand, soils can also absorb new carbon (i.e. soils are CO2 sinks).
This project explores how farms can protect the climate and use limited resources such as energy, water, phosphorus, potassium and the soil efficiently. Concrete measures are developed and tested on 30 commercial farms to determine reduction potentials. Findings are imparted in a practice-oriented manner.
