Climate change adaptation in the Canadian wine industry: Strategies and drivers

Abstract

The wine industry is and will continue to be impacted by climate change. The adaptation of vineyards and winery practices is therefore paramount to the success of winegrowing operations around the globe. We surveyed winegrowers across Canada to assess their adaptation status, the strategies they currently use or plan to implement to cope with the effects of climate change, and the drivers that influence the adoption of adaptation measures. We found that Canadian winegrowers are most adapted to weather events associated with precipitation and drought and less adapted to other extreme weather events. Our results also show that winegrowers' concern about climate change exerts a small, but significant, positive effect on both climate change adaptation and the willingness to adapt in the future. Moreover, winegrowers with smaller operations are less likely to be adapted to some weather events associated with climate change. This research provides an overview of the state of climate change adaptation by winegrowers in Canada and supports the implementation of context-specific adaptations in wine regions throughout the country.