In what is becoming a climate-focused week, the French Environment Minister, Nathalie Kosciusko-Morizet, today presented her national plan for adaptation to climate change to the French Government. The GIEC, an international group of experts on climate science, is also holding its annual meeting in Brest, Brittany.  

Its 250 members have been examining ways in which climate change will manifest itself and affect future generations. The scientists have focused their efforts on investigating the effects of rising carbon dioxide levels, water scarcity and erratic weather.

“In agriculture, the impacts of climate change remain ambiguous and may affect different crops in different ways” explained Nadine Brisson, Director of agroclimate research at INRA, France’s Institute of Scientific Research into Agronomy. Brisson said that increased carbon dioxide (CO2) levels would benefit some crops, as “CO2 nourishes plants.”

Furthermore, increasing global temperatures, which would bring each stage of plant development forward in the season, could prove beneficial for certain crops as bringing forth their cycle could help avoid water stress, as water would be expected to be more scarce during the summer months, according to Mme Brisson.

However, the beneficial effects will be far from universal. Corn, which requires 70 per cent irrigation, will inevitably suffer as a result of water scarcity and would not benefit from an increase in CO2 levels in the atmosphere. This would result in a widespread decrease in yields.

Experts have predicted that oilseed rape and sunflower yields will stagnate. Wheat, on the other hand, is expected to benefit and could make up for the effects on corn. Inra has expressed concerns over the future of wine production. Nadine Brisson warned that, for wine grapes, a shift in cycles would affect the flavour. If grapes ripen between July and August instead of August and September, as is currently the case, Mme Brisson claimed, the difference between the cold nights and hot days which ensures the quality of the wine would be lost altogether.

The scientist and her team concluded that climate change may not be so catastrophic for French agriculture so long as the population is prepared; however, the study’s results are taken in isolation from other global events, which would have knock-on impacts for the population.  

She advocates such preparations as substituting part of the corn crop for sorghum, and possibly shuffling the regions in which crops are traditionally grown. If this goes ahead it would see a shift northwards of current French crops; Merlot grapes could be grown in the Ile de France or Brittany and corn and sorghum would move up to take their place.