Action Programme for Climate Adaptation in Agriculture.

This Action Programme focuses on open and covered cultivation and livestock farming, in order to ensure that agriculture can cope better with the effects of the trend towards wetter, warmer, and drier conditions, rising sea levels and greater extremes (highs and lows) in river levels, adapting to these climate change effects, including: salinisation, sinking groundwater levels, new plant diseases and pests, flooding, reduced crop yields and/or quality loss of agricultural products due to precipitation, storms, hail, waterlogged soils and prolonged droughts in areas with insufficient availability of fresh water, damage to means of production, such as greenhouses and barns, due to hail, storms or lightning. Thus, this Action Programme specifies options for farmers, chain partners and government authorities, in order to allow the best adaptation to climate change, aiming at: improving soil quality and the availability of fresh water, strengthening regional and international cooperation among farmers. Particularly, the Action Programme details five pillars of action: water system; soil system; crops and cultivation systems; livestock farming; supporting instruments.
The first pillar includes actions to strengthen national, regional and local cooperation on drought, flooding and water quality, including salinisation, in order to prevent future water crises and limit the damage caused by the effects of climate change that damage water quality. The second pillar includes actions that link up to the National Programme for Agricultural Soils, in order to improve the role of soil in making agriculture climate-proof, through the improvement of soil quality in the broadest sense (physical, chemical and biological), the support to crops in coping with extreme weather conditions and the strengthening of sustainable management of agricultural soil. The third pillar, inspired by the Vision for the Future of Plant Protection by 2030, focuses on making plants and cultivation systems resilient, providing pre-competitive stimulus for the development and preservation of planting materials. The fourth pillar focuses on climate adaptation for all farm animals, such as dairy cattle, pigs and poultry, which can be exposed to new animal diseases as a result of climate change. The fifth pillar specifies three supporting instruments: 1) regional approach, 2) knowledge and innovation, and 3) risk management, providing comprehensive support for the goals in each of the other pillars.