On October 4, 5 and 6, the International Congress on Agricultural Insurance was held, organized by ENESA within the framework of the official activities of the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council. This Congress took place in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain, and dealt with the effects of climate change on farms and the Insurance System itself.

CEIGRAM’s contribution to this Congress was presented by Isabel Bardají, Director of CEIGRAM. Her presentation focused on analysing the main impacts and adaptation to climate change in agriculture, based on studies and research carried out by CEIGRAM researchers in various fields.

Firstly, to address the impacts, the results obtained on cereal yields were presented, using various projections of agro-meteorological parameters under different climate change scenarios, as well as the recent evolution of the most relevant extreme events for agricultural insurance in significant locations for the main crops.

On the other hand, to address the potential of adaptation, the positive results obtained in different studies were presented, by modifying management practices such as sowing dates, conduction or irrigation systems, changes in varieties using those more resistant to droughts or with different cold requirements; these studies have been carried out in crops such as cereals, vines, olive groves or peaches. The conclusion drawn from these studies is that adaptation is possible, although it requires combinations of both management and plant varieties, and should be considered locally, assessing the different options for each case.