Montevideo, 3 April, 2017 –  The Uruguay NAP-Ag Team organized the first in a series of Adaptation Dialogues as part of the formulation of the country’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) for the agriculture sectors.

This series of participatory discussions will help Uruguay collect more information to better evaluate adaptation options. The results of this work will then inform the making of public policies and the priority action areas of the NAP for the agriculture sectors.

The Adaptation Dialogues are organized by the seven main production systems in the country: dairy, beef cattle, irrigated rice, forestry, horticulture and crop production plus a cross cutting dialogue that will include discussions on family farming.

The first Adaptation Dialogue was held on 3 April in Montevideo and focused on the dairy production system. Farmers, researchers, and technical officers of the Ministry of Agriculture and the National Dairy Institute of Uruguay were all in attendance.

Walter Oyhantçabal, Director of the Agricultural Sustainability and Climate Change Unit of the Ministry of Agriculture, opened the event with an overview of the present and future climate in Uruguay and its effect on agricultural production. This presentation was followed by Dr. Santiago Fariña, Director of the Dairy Research Program of the National Agricultural Research Institute, who shared his vision on the challenges of dairy production in Uruguay. These two presentations set the stage for a conversation on the vulnerabilities, gaps and barriers for adaptation in dairy production systems and on identifying adaptation alternatives for dairy production systems in Uruguay.

The three main climatic challenges at farm-level that were identified during the Adaptation Dialogue were: excess rainfall, water deficit and drought, and heat stress. The participants indicated that there was a lack of tools and infrastructure and to successfully adapt the dairy production system to climate change and variability.

The Dialogue showed there was a consensus that for Uruguay a dairy production adapted to increased variability in climate and climate change is a system based on direct grazing of pastures with strategic farm-produced forage reserves used as diet supplements with as little out of farm inputs as possible. This system requires infrastructure for cooling and shading cattle during the summer and roads and flooring that can channel excessive rainfall in a way that mud does not affect cattle movement and crop production.

Looking into the future, the Dialogue emphasized the social and economic aspects of dairy production. There was a general view that there is a need to develop production systems that attract younger generations to the farms. In that respect, automated systems that allow time for rest and leisure will be critical. There was also an emphasis on the need for financial instruments, climate risk insurance and funds to help soften the effect of price fluctuations and increased costs of production associated with extreme climate events.

The next Dialogue in the series will take place on 11 May and will focus on family farming. You can hear more about what was said (in Spanish) during this Dialogue by watching these videos on: dairy production in the face of climate change, how the Adaptation Dialogues will deal with climate change and variability, and how a dairy producer is coping with the changing climate.