We study how tailored transition from rainfed to nature- and technology-based water management systems can be used to safeguard profitable, sustainable, resilient, and regenerative primary production in the pressure of global changes and challenges. Rational diversification potential will be estimated now and in the future climate and societal conditions by considering all spatial and temporal diversification measures depending on region, farming system, farm characteristics, and logistics. The proximity of field parcels to waterways is used to anticipate opportunities for adopting irrigation.
Impacts of anticipated shifts in feed resources on animal production will be studied by considering the most potential diversified crop choices substituting imported feeds. We arrange field experiments with prioritized adaptation practices to cope with extreme changes in water availability (e.g., diversified cropping systems, irrigation, soil management, and novel technologies) and to benefit from existing differences in crops’ capacity to tolerate drought and wetness.
Bioeconomic models are used to study cost-effective adaptation measures under climate change and market-related risks with a particular focus on irrigation, climate-related external factors, input prices, and externalities to waterbodies. We will extend existing and develop new models to study the effectiveness of the water management measures by economic optimisations under uncertainty. We also study the economically optimal adaptation of an animal farm where the producer responds to changing environment and markets by adjusting the animal diets, among other factors of production.