Land suitability and potential yield variations of wheat and olive crops determined by climate change in Italy

Abstract There is significant concern about the potential impacts of climate change and its variability on agricultural production worldwide. A good case study for analyzing vulnerability to climate change is represented by the Mediterranean area, which accounts for most of the global olive oil and more than 10% of the total cereal production. Considerable efforts have been recently expended on analyzing the effects of climate variability on agricultural crops using the scenario approach. The general goal of this work is to conduct a land suitability analysis for selected Mediterranean crops (wheat and olive) in Italy and to assess the impact of climate change on yield. © 2008, Page Press Publications. All rights reserved.