Institute for Agro-Environmental Sciences, NARO

Ongoing climate change is already impacting agricultural production, and the effects will become greater if stringent mitigation measures are not implemented. Projecting where, when and what will occur in crop production depending on climate scenarios is the foundation for developing climate change adaptation measures. Our Group is engaged in research into how crops respond to environmental changes such as increases in atmospheric CO₂ concentration, global warming, and changes in precipitation, which will be utilized for projecting the impacts and assessing effective adaptation measures. To this end, we carry out the following:

• Experimental determination and modeling of crop response to global warming
• Detection of the global warming effects on crop production by the micrometeorological observation network in agricultural land
• Development of a database of detailed climate scenarios
• Assessment of the impacts and adaptation measures on different spatial scales

By quantifying the temperature response of crops to global warming accounting for differences in varieties and cultivation techniques, we will evaluate adaptation technologies that will be effective in the future. Through the network of micrometeorological observations of croplands, we will detect the effects of global warming on crops. Furthermore, we use these databases to assess the impacts of climate change on domestic agriculture and global food production and adaptation technologies, and contribute to adaptation planning at the local and national levels.