Szwed et al. (2026) Polish Agriculture in the Face of Climate Change: Better or Worse?

⚠️ Warning: This summary was generated from the abstract only, as the full text was not available.

Identification

• Journal: International Journal of Climatology
• Year: 2026
• Date: 2026-04-20
• Authors: Małgorzata Szwed, Małgorzata Holka
• DOI: 10.1002/joc.70387

Research Groups

Not specified in the provided text.

Short Summary

This study evaluates the impact of climate change on Poland's agricultural growing season from 1961 to 2020, finding that while rising temperatures have extended the growing season, they have simultaneously intensified the risk of summer droughts.

Objective

• To examine the impact of climate change on agricultural conditions and production in Poland by comparing a baseline period (1961–1990) with a subsequent warming phase (1991–2020).

Study Configuration

• Spatial Scale: National (Poland), utilizing data from 47 meteorological stations.
• Temporal Scale: 1961–2020.

Methodology and Data

• Models used: Not specified (statistical analysis of meteorological parameters).
• Data sources: Meteorological station observations.

Main Results

• Temperature and Season Length: A significant increase in mean temperatures led to the extension of the overall growing season by 6 days, the intensive growth period by 10 days, and the ripening period by 14 days.
• Extreme Events: No significant changes were observed in the frequency or intensity of most adverse meteorological events (e.g., frost, heavy rainfall).
• Drought Dynamics: Summer drought is identified as the primary threat to production. Although the frequency of precipitation-free periods during the ripening stage did not increase, higher temperatures accelerated evaporation and plant transpiration, thereby intensifying drought conditions.

Contributions

• The research provides a long-term quantitative assessment of the Polish agricultural calendar, highlighting that the benefit of a longer growing season is countered by increased hydro-climatic stress due to temperature-driven evapotranspiration.

Funding

Not specified in the provided text.

Citation

@article{Szwed2026Polish,
  author = {Szwed, Małgorzata and Holka, Małgorzata},
  title = {Polish Agriculture in the Face of Climate Change: Better or Worse?},
  journal = {International Journal of Climatology},
  year = {2026},
  doi = {10.1002/joc.70387},
  url = {https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.70387}
}