EIA took part in the “Building Resilience: Climate-proofing European agriculture” conference.

n March 24, the EIA participated in the Conference  “Building Resilience: Climate-proofing EU Agriculture”in Florence School of Transnational Governance (STG), Italy & Online :

This conference brought together technical, policy makers, and financial experts to discuss how agriculture can adapt to the challenges of climate change.

Organized by the European Investment Bank (EIB), the European University Institute (EUI) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), this high-level event brought together a diverse group of professionals to discuss innovative strategies for enhancing agricultural sustainability in the face of climate change and other challenges. The event featured keynote speeches, panel discussions, and interactive sessions on climate-smart practices, soil health, water management & irrigation, financing tools and policy frameworks supporting resilience.

Key Themes and Discussions:

1. The conference commenced with scene-setting speeches by EIB Vice-President Gelsomina Vigliotti, FAO Deputy Director General Maurizio Martina, and Dario Nardella, MEP and member of the EP Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development.
2. Climate change and the future of EU agriculture: experts from the fields of climate, agronomy and economy presented an overall overview of how climate change is affecting and will affect agriculture in the European Union, emphasized the importance of adopting climate-smart techniques to mitigate the effects of climate change on food production.
3. Solutions for climate-smart EU agriculture: This session gave an overview of some of the main solutions for resilience and adaptation, ranging from soft measures such as changing agricultural practices, to improving genetics and upgrading physical infrastructure and irrigation practices and technologies. During this session Moshi Berenstein, President of the European Irrigation Association EIA shared the sector’s insights on how new irrigation technologies including digital solutions play a role in enhancing agricultural adaptation and resilience to climate change in Europe. A dynamic discussion emerged around the barriers and enablers for scaling up these solutions.
4. Climate proofing EU policy framework: This session commenced with keynotes by the president of the European Council of Young Farmers (CEJA) followed by an exploration of the role of EU policy in driving agricultural adaptation. The discussion between representatives of the EIB, DG Agriculture and DG Climate of the EU Commission, OECD and the FAO was focused on how policy can be reformed or developed to accelerate climate adaptation in agriculture.
5. Financing the Transition: Stakeholders highlighted the potential options to channel additional financing towards climate change adaptation by the EU agricultural sector including the potential for agricultural insurance to play a greater role, the role of blended finance for climate adaptation, innovation infrastructure and their potential for synergies with new financial instruments and markets (payments for ecosystem services, carbon finance etc.).

Key Takeaways:

• Collaboration between governments, researchers, finance institutions and farmers is crucial in building adaptive strategies for future challenges.
• Advanced irrigation and water management technologies play a crucial role in climate adaptation and resource efficiency.
• Despite the proven advantages of smart-irrigation solutions still the overall adoption rate of precision technologies remains modest due to a combination of economical, technological, social and policy-related challenges.
• Digital in agriculture is not simply technical question and will remain just a “magic word” if it wouldn’t be introduced in the right context and with the right training and accompaniment of users.
• Even the most novel irrigation technologies the sector can offer can’t make the big change towards resilience alone. Industrial partnerships (such as food chain) are essential in creating an impact of the importance of water technologies for resilience through awareness.
• Policy reforms and financial mechanisms should be better designed to the needs of small-scale farmers (such as blended finance and carbon markets).
• Strengthening farmer education and training programs is essential for scaling up climate-smart agricultural practices.

Conclusion:
The conference underscored the urgency of adopting resilient agricultural practices including irrigation to ensure sustainable food systems. Participants left with actionable insights and strategies to implement in their respective fields, fostering a more adaptable and robust agricultural sector.

**Notes of EIA Key insights made by Moshi: find here  

Link to the event website: https://www.eui.eu/events?id=576792

Prepared by: Moshi Berenstein

Date: March 25, 2025