Micro-Climate Engineering for Climate Change Adaptation in Agriculture

Can farmers change micro-climates around their crops as an adaptation to climate change? We present a novel adaptation technique for pistachio growers in California, meant to deal with warm winters. A kaolin clay mud is sprayed on dormant trees, blocking sunlight and lowering tree bud temperatures, preventing adverse yield effects of low chill. Climate predictions for California suggest that within 25 years, roughly one out of three winters will have low enough chill to greatly harm pistachio crops. Simulating market conditions, we estimate the mean welfare gains of this technique on a low chill year to be $554 Million. We expect more micro-climate engineering solutions, some based on existing technologies, to start playing a major role in climate change adaptation.