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Irrigation as adaptation strategy to climate change—a biophysical and economic appraisal for Swiss maize production

Finger, Robert ; Hediger, Werner ; Schmid, Stéphanie

In: Climatic Change, 2011, vol. 105, no. 3-4, p. 509-528

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    Title
    • Irrigation as adaptation strategy to climate change—a biophysical and economic appraisal for Swiss maize production
    Author
    • Finger, Robert. Agri-food and Agri-environmental Economics Group ETH, Sonneggstrasse 33, 8092, Zürich, Switzerland
    • Hediger, Werner. Swiss College of Agriculture SHL, Laenggasse 85, 3052, Zollikofen, Switzerland
    • Schmid, Stéphanie. Agroscope Reckenholz-Tänikon Research Station ART, Reckenholzstrasse 191, 8046, Zürich, Switzerland
    Document Type
    • Postprint
    Classification
    • Earth sciences
    OAI-PMH Identifier
    • oai:doc.rero.ch:321624
    Summary
    The impact of climate change on Swiss maize production is assessed using an approach that integrates a biophysical and an economic model. Simple adaptation options such as shifts in sowing dates and adjustments of production intensity are considered. In addition, irrigation is evaluated as an adaptation strategy. It shows that the impact of climate change on yield levels is small but yield variability increases in rainfed production. Even though the adoption of irrigation leads to higher and less variable maize yields in the future, economic benefits of this adoption decision are expected to be rather small. Thus, no shift from the currently used rainfed system to irrigated production is expected in the future. Moreover, we find that changes in institutional and market conditions rather than changes in climatic conditions will influence the development of the Swiss maize production and the adoption of irrigation in the future