A new briefing from the European Environment Agency (EEA) has said that climate risk and economic fragility are “converging” in agriculture.
This is based on 51 European farm-level case studies, extending from farms in the United Kingdom to Ukraine.
The briefing recommends climate-resilient agriculture (CRA) practices.
These are organised across four practice areas: soil and water management; crop system diversification; landscape level management; and livestock system redesign.
According to the briefing, CRA refers to farming systems that “maintain economic viability” alongside a “reduced vulnerability to climate shocks”.
The EEA said: “This is achieved by lowering dependency on external inputs and restoring soil, water and ecosystem functions.”
The agency described this as “an economic strategy to stabilise farm incomes and food production under accelerating climate risk”.
Climate risk and economic fragility
According to the EEA briefing, Europe’s agricultural systems are “entering a decade in which climate risk and economic fragility are converging”.
It said: “Rising temperatures, shifting rainfall patterns and increasingly frequent extremes — heatwaves, droughts, floods, storms and compound risks — are disrupting production across all European regions.
“These pressures increase exposure across farming systems and regions, making climate resilience an economic as well as an environmental priority.”
The briefing lists several “extreme drought and heatwave events in recent decades” in Europe.
These climate shocks range from “catastrophic drought in Romania and southern Spain to severe flooding in Greece and central Europe”.
The briefing also finds that, over the past decade, extreme climate events have resulted in crop losses up to 30% higher than trends had predicted.
Tillage
One CRA practice highlighted in the briefing is reduced tillage.
It said: “By improving soil structure and water retention, reduced tillage helps farms cope better with droughts and heavy rainfall.
“In the case studies used for this briefing, diesel use was cut by around 50%, while production costs were reduced by about 40% and labour needs by roughly 25–30%, depending on context.”
The briefing also recommends financial support for farmers engaging in CRA: “Many practices deliver public benefits — such as landscape features and ecosystem services — while offering limited short term private returns for farmers, underscoring the need for targeted financial and policy support.”
The EEA said: “System redesign and public co-investment are necessary in these cases to manage the upfront costs and transition risks.
“To secure Europe’s food systems and rural economies, climate resilience must be treated as a core economic priority.”
It added: “With targeted investment, stronger governance and better monitoring of climate risks and adaptation, Europe can move from reactive crisis management to proactive resilience — stabilising farm incomes and safeguarding long-term agricultural productivity.”
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