MED-GOLD

This project has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 776467.

MED-GOLD will demonstrate the proof of concept for climate services in the agriculture sector through the development of case studies for three of the key crops in the Mediterranean food system: grapes, olives, and durum wheat. Climate is one of the key factors in agriculture, and the reason why the practice is highly vulnerable to climate changes and variations. The data indicate that the Mediterranean region is under immediate threat from changes in climate patterns and the subsequent ecological, economic, and social effects. Developing the ability to convert the increasing volume of data related to the climate into tailored climate services that can help in the agricultural decision-making process is, therefore, a priority in Europe and the rest of the world. The long-term goal of this project is to make agriculture and food production systems in Europe more competitive, resilient, and efficient in the face of climate change, using climate services that minimize the risks and costs associated with the climate and take advantage of the opportunities to add value.

Climate Services Development

The purpose of the MED-GOLD project is to develop climate services for grape, olive, and durum wheat crop services, as they are the foundation for the production of wine, oil, and pasta. These crops and the associated food products are of the utmost importance vis-à-vis climate, ecology, economy, and culture in the Mediterranean region. Wine, olive oil, and pasta are not only key elements in the Mediterranean diet, but they are also products with a global market, so there is considerable potential for the development of climate services with added value for grapes, olives, and durum wheat. A significant challenge is the joint design (with participation from providers and users of the three primary traditional Mediterranean crops) of service application prototypes that use data to prove the existence of value-added responses to changes to the climate system. The operational user decision-making process will be reviewed to identify key decisions or input new actions that may benefit from climate data over different periods of time ranging between months and decades.