2018 drought took toll on Swedish farmers’ mental and fiscal health, research says
A new study by Lund University shows farmers’s health and financial situation suffered from the hot, dry summer of 2018.
Researchers surveyed and interviewed roughly 400 farmers in the south of Sweden about the effects the drought had on them. Their current results are based on about 110 of those responses.
Findings show farmers’ physical and mental health declined that summer, with longer working hours and increased stress. Many farmers had been particularly worried about the effect of the drought on their animals.
Up to one third of farmers reported a financial result of just 50% of what it would normally have been.
Related stories from around the North:
Canada: 2019 shaping up to be the second or third warmest year on record, says WMO provisional report, Eye on the Arctic
Finland: Warmer, drier summer than usual in most of Finland, Yle News
Greenland: Greenlanders stay chill as the world reacts to their heatwave, CBC News
Iceland: Former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry calls for climate action at Arctic Circle assembly, The Independent Barents Observer
Russia: Warm winter expected across the Arctic, The Independent Barents Observer
Sweden: IPCC climate report warns “extreme sea level events” will occur frequently, Radio Sweden
United States: Bering Sea region focus of recent papers on climate risk to northern communities, Eye on the Arctic
Do these farmers in southern Sweden have irrigation? If not that should be a priority.