Agricultural adaptation to climate change in the news

Canadian researchers and policy makers dealing with climate change adaptation in the agriculture field frequently point to an apparent lack of interest from producers when the topic is raised. This attitude may be the result of several conditions, including the fact that adaptation, as a term, is poorly understood and rarely recognised and that adaptation strategies are not separable in practice from existing business risk management. Producers' attitudes play a significant role in instituting successful policy and programmes for climate change risk management and need to be acknowledged when conducting applied research into the topic. Many factors influence producers' attitudes and perceptions, among them are news media reports. This paper documents and assesses news media coverage of climate change adaptation issues relevant to the agri-food sector in Canada and shows there are similarities between media portrayal and producers' perceptions of the topic of climate change adaptation.