Scientific predictions suggest that global climate change may have a significant impact on agricultural production and rural livelihoods around the world.  Given this, studies that shed light on the challenges and potential adaptions of farmers in particular locales are valuable.  The goal of this study was to assess the vulnerability of Caribbean small farmers to climate shocks and market dynamics, and to evaluate the role of water management strategies in enhancing agricultural resilience.  Our case study focused on St. Elizabeth Parish from 2013 to 2015.  We utilized a novel, mixed-methods research design that included more than 100 interviews with farmers and the collection of meteorological data from 15 case study farms.  Interviews sought to document the significant challenges, concerns, and sources of stress faced by farmers over the course of a typical growing season.  Environmental conditions on case study farms were monitored over a two-year period using a network of rain gauges, thermometers, and soil moisture probes, and the perceptions and actions of case study farmers were recorded during bi-weekly phone surveys.  Data derived from our fieldwork have produced a number of valuable insights:

• Farmers in St. Elizabeth Parish are experiencing climate change and are particularly sensitive to an increase in climatic variability, which disrupts traditional crop calendars and agricultural practices.  During the summers of both 2014 and 2015, the region experienced severe drought (Image 1), allowing us to assess its impact on farmers and to document local adaptation strategies that may increase community resilience in the face of climate change. 

• Farmers in this semi-arid region have developed unique cultivation practices and cropping calendars to deal with climate hazards.  The wide range of microclimates in this region can affect farmer resilience, with farmers at higher elevations somewhat more protected from the impacts of large-scale drought than lower elevation farmers (Image 3). 

• The prices that farmers receive for their crops are highly volatile, and local marketing and distribution networks are often unreliable, in part because of a reliance on local middle-men, or ‘higglers’.  Because of Jamaica’s small domestic market, most crops experience periods of glut or scarcity, with corresponding price swings.  For many farmers, price is a more important consideration than environmental conditions when devising planting strategies, which are typically oriented around trying to ‘catch the crop’ when the price is high.    

• In response to increased uncertainty related to climate, marketing and price, farmers are undertaking ad hoc forms of adaptation.  Adaptation measures most often take the form of different crop choices, cultivation practices, water management strategies and marketing and distribution arrangements.

• Climate change appears to be making water an increasingly crucial resource.  However, the ability of different farmers to access and deploy irrigation systems is highly variable.  Larger farmers with greater stores of social and financial capital are often able to acquire water, and thereby time their crop to receive a high price.  Smaller, resource-poor farmers are more dependent upon rainfall and tend to plant concurrently, increasing the odds of produce gluts and low prices (Image 2).   Thus, it appears from our work that climate change may increase the disparities between relatively wealthy and resource-poor farmers.

• The difficulties experienced by small farmers, we believe, has led to a sense of fatalism among traditional cultivators.  Greater collective organization would seem likely to insulate farmers from some of the climate and price volatility and enhance resilience, but we found that farmers were very autonomous in their decision making and did not have the mindset of cooperation.  In fact, some viewed an environmental shock or hazard (e.g., a drought or hurricane) as the best opportunity to catch a high price, indicating that a successful crop was tied to their neighboring farmers’ failure.   

• Climate change is providing an opening for new models of agriculture, particularly more modern and technologically sophisticated growing methods.  Greenhouse cultivation, which has expanded rapidly in the Caribbean in recent years, is one of the more notable example.  However, our research suggests that new capital-intensive farming methods may benefit only the wealthiest farmers. 

• Through preliminary field work on other islands, we have found that the climate-farmer-market interactions outlined here appear to typify the greater Caribbean.  There is a need, therefore, to develop adaptation strategies that are appropriate for, and available to, traditional small farmers across the wider Caribbean region. 

• Although the traditional farming model in the Caribbean is somewhat distinctive, results from our research may have important implications for agriculture in the United States.  Island nations are bellwether sites for examining the potential impacts of climate change, and the lessons we have learned about the uneven impacts and adaptation strategies employed in the Caribbean may help US policy-makers to ameliorate the potential economic impacts of environmental stress for American farmers, and enhance US food security in an increasingly uncertain growing environment.

Last Modified: 11/28/2016
Modified by: Emil J Popke