In farming systems across Canada, effective risk management is necessary to deal with drought, flooding, and extreme weather, and to adapt to altered climate and weather conditions. Unfortunately, climate change risks and opportunities are not always well understood among researchers and policy makers in the Canadian agri-food sector. This book addresses that gap by providing a wide-ranging synopsis of what climate change means for Canadian agriculture, exploring different approaches to the topic, and presenting examples of current research. It covers all agricultural regions and a wide variety of commodity production and farming systems. This comprehensive survey synthesizes twenty years of research on climate change and Canadian agriculture.

Ellen Wall's profile page

Barry Smit's profile page

Johanna Wandel's profile page

Ellen Wall is a research scientist in environmental sciences; Barry Smit is a professor of geography and Canada Research Chair in Global Environmental Change; and Johanna Wandel is a postdoctoral research associate with the Department of Geography – all at the University of Guelph. The authors/editors are also members of the Advisory Committee for C-CIARN Agriculture (Canadian Climate Impacts and Adaptation Research Network for Agriculture).

This timely collection will be of interest to scholars, policymakers, and agriculturalists throughout North America and beyond. It offers both a comprehensive collection of recent research on the vulnerability of Canadian farming systems to climate change and a thorough and articulate presentation of the breadth of concepts and methods currently employed in climate change vulnerability assessments.

Great Plains Research, Vol.18, No.2, Fall 2008