Adaptation strategies for dealing with global atmospheric change in Mediterranean agriculture: a triple helix approach to the Spanish case study

Global atmospheric change poses a major challenge to the agricultural sector, with potentially important consequences in the Mediterranean basin. Addressing these risks demands transformative adaptation in agricultural practices, a responsibility not exclusive to farmers alone. According to the agricultural knowledge and innovation systems (AKIS) approach, changing agricultural practices is a multi-stakeholder process. Triple helix innovation models consider three basic stakeholders: scientists, policymakers and farmers. This paper reviews the agricultural policies on climate change adaptation employed by the Spanish government in the primary cereal-producing regions of Spain, comparing them with the recommendations proposed by the scientific literature and the actual practices adopted by farmers. The objective is to identify divergences and common elements in order to analyze bottlenecks and opportunities for a faster and smoother adaptation process. Conclusions highlight that there are common perceptions, but also important divergences between the three stakeholders, and that public policies have an important role in order to foster adaptation measures to deal with global atmospheric change in Mediterranean agriculture.