California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE)

The climate of California is predicted to change significantly during the coming century. Whilea changing climate will impact the stateas a whole, some sectors may be impacted more than others. This is especially true of agriculture. Impacts may not only alter the types and locations of commodities produced, but also the factors influencing their production, such as resource availability and biotic and abiotic stresses. The nature and interrelatedness of these factors, and the response of agro-ecosystems, need to be explored to effectively mitigate and/or adapt to the effectsof climate change in a sustainable manner. To consider the challenges facing California agriculture in a changing climate, a symposium entitled “Climate Change: Challenges and Solutions for California Agricultural Landscapes” was held at University of California, Davis, by the John Muir Institute for the Environment, May 12-13 2005 (John Muir Institute 2005). Talks were presented by 29 speakers from West Coast Universities and state and federal agencies, to an audience of more than 100 participants from a range of organizations and stakeholder groups. The structure of the symposium promoted open discussion among participants from multiple disciplines. The presentations and conclusions of the symposium provide the basic structure and foundation upon which this report is written. An important outcome of the symposium was recognition not only of future impacts of climate change on California agricultural landscapes, but of the fact that actions taken now and in the near future will play critical roles in dealing with these changes. By taking a landscape perspective, the focus was not only on commodity-specific issues and agro-ecosystem changes, but also included a wider range of ecosystems, such as water availability and transport, and interactions with urban ecosystems. As such, there is a greater need than ever to train scientists with a broad and in-depth appreciation of the complex issues of climate change. To this end, we developed a graduate-level seminar class entitled Climate Change and the California Agricultural Landscape (ECL/SSC 290) UC Davis (July-Sept, 2005). Fourteen graduate students, from both the Ecology and the Soils and Biogeochemistry Graduate Groups, participated in the class. Student workgroups, mentored by UC Davis faculty and/or a representative from a government agency, integrated material from the symposium presentations and a review of the scientific literature to identify key impacts of climate change upon California agricultural landscapes. Adhering, for the most part, to the organizational structure of the symposium, this report consists of an integrated analysis of potential impacts of climate change upon California agriculture. It primarily focuses on identifying impacts, options for adaptation, and identification of areas where key data are currently lacking. California agriculture also has an important role to play in climate change mitigation, both in the short term and in the longer term. This report, also identifies areas and options where California agriculture may act as a net mitigator of climate change. Another outcome of this effort is a database of >500 references relevant to assessment of climate change in California agricultural landscapes