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Swot Greenhouse Farming
Swot Greenhouse Farming
a Changing Climate
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• Opportunities
• Threats
Strengths
• Diversity
– Mixed farming systems
– Increases economic stability in changing
climate
• Resourcefulness of producer community
– Atlantic producers most highly educated
• 43% have education beyond high school (Aubin et
al., 2003).
Strengths
• Profit margins
– Small differences between input costs and
returns increases vulnerability
– High debit ratio
• Age of agricultural community
– Average age 53
– 36% intend to retire in next 5 years
– Who will be our future producers?
Weaknesses
• Producer awareness
– Only 1 in 4 producers aware of climate change
or greenhouse gas issues
• Producer skepticism
– 1/3 of agriculture producers feel their will be no
impact of climate change
Opportunities
• Uncertainty
– Do not have good future data sets
• Frequency of extreme events
+ X*
Drought X cc
Severity
Xpc
- X*
Time (years)
pre-climate change changed climate
freq.
(yrs)
• Pests impacts
– Greater numbers
– Change in pest spectrum
• Sea-level rise
– Loss of agricultural land
– Salt water intrusion
Issues
• Water management
– Will there be sufficient water? Too much?
• Other demands on water sources
• Ability to retain water on landscape
– Water quality
• Potential for increased impacts on water quality
• Salt water intrusion on groundwater
Issues