This new publication by Deltares and VU Amsterdam on the International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction explored the main factors that influence the varying effects of past weather extremes on Dutch arable farms in order to better understand how to lessen the impact of extreme weather events (EWEs), which are becoming more frequent and severe, posing serious challenges to the agricultural sector. These weather extremes can lead to significant drops in crop yields and revenue for farmers.
The research surveyed 81 potato and onion farmers in the Netherlands to gather data on how EWEs between 2018 and 2022 affected their operations. The findings revealed that these extreme conditions are already having a strong negative impact on farm income, though the severity differs from farm to farm. By linking the survey responses with weather data, the study found that dry summers, waterlogged fields during harvest and plowing, and unusually warm winters were the key drivers behind the most severe impacts.
The full paper can be found in the ACCREU community on the Zenodo open access platform.