Epsilon Open Archive

Abstract

The purpose of this literature review is to create a base of information to identify gaps of knowledge in the assessment of the effects of climate change on agriculture in Sweden, and related effects of agricultural adaptation and mitigation measures. The review is a part of a project (FANAN, Fogelfors et al. 2008) at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences aiming at making a strategic analysis of future research needs for agriculture in Sweden, and should help in answering the following questions: What are the expected impacts of climate change on agricultural production and its effects on environment, which are the suggested methods for mitigation and adaptation, and what is the scientific base on which these assessments stands? The work has been done in the following way: Literature has basically been searched for on the “Web of Science”. The review has focused on scientific literature, although the literature has also been searched on the whole “Web”, and several references have been found elsewhere in a non-systematic way. The limited number of researchers involved and time available for the study allowed only a few topics to be thoroughly examined. References within many topics are though cited, but the list is incomplete. Thus the reference list should not be regarded to be complete. Mainly abstracts have been read and analysed for results, conclusions and methods. The text has basically the character of citations using expressions close to those of the authors of the articles, although our own analyses were now and then unavoidable. All evaluations by us, the authors of this report, are intended to be concentrated to the summary. The citations are structured in relation to the questions they give answers to. The reader is recommended to use the questions to find the information of her/his interest. The study was financed by the Faculty of Natural Resources and Agricultural Science at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and the authors would like to thank colleagues at the Departments for Crop Production Ecology, Economy, Animal Nutrition and Management, and Soil and Environment for contributions and kind help.