Identifying under-adaptation of farms to climate change

Abstract Adaptation is a key strategy to mitigate the detrimental effects of climate change on agriculture. Econometric studies are extensively used to account for adaptation within impact assessment, but are generally based on the assumption of fully adapted farms. Building on increasing evidence of potential limitations of adaptation, we develop a conceptual framework which allows us to relax this assumption and empirically analyse climate change adaptation at the farm level. Our findings indicate under-adaptation of Austrian farms, contradicting the assumption of full adaptation. In the context of ongoing climate change, this calls for further development and implementation of effective farm-level adaptation measures.