Nearly eight out of 10 Walloon farmers (77%) say they are experiencing difficulties linked to climate change, according to a study conducted by the CBC bank among a representative sample of 300 farmers.
These difficulties are widely perceived as structural and detrimental to the financial profitability of farms, the study shows. Reduced yields (81%), increased losses (64%) and delayed planting (56%) are the most cited challenges.
Conversely, among the minority of farmers who say they are not experiencing any difficulties related to climate change, one-third point to the diversification of their farms.
For most respondents, the biggest impacts of climate change on Walloon agriculture are long alternating periods of drought and wet weather, drought itself, and volatile prices.
Surprisingly, just 48% of the farmers surveyed are considering changing or adapting their type of production or activity in response to the difficulties encountered. One farmer in two is not considering it, and the reasons given are: it is too expensive (53%); it is impossible to do (47%); and the respondent may stop farming soon (45%).
“You can sense that farmers are struggling, notes Fabian Wathelet, head of the agriculture department at CBC. “They do not know which direction to take to achieve greater resilience.”
Another surprise from the survey is that only six out of 10 Walloon farmers feel concerned by climate change.
Finally, the study shows that Wallonia's farmers have expectations of both supermarkets and consumers. From the former, they expect local and/or organic products to be promoted and only seasonal produce to be marketed.
Where consumers are concerned, farmers think they could help them meet climate-related challenges by consuming more local products, more seasonal produce and fewer imported goods.
