Conclusions and Implications for Policy

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to estimate the effect of selected climatic variations on crop yield and farm profitability in Finland. In Section 2, yield-weather functions for barley were established for two regions (Helsinki and Oulu) using data for 1846–1983. At first, monthly climate data were employed, but since the results were not satisfactory, new yield functions were developed using daily data for 1959–1983. The same method was used for spring wheat in Section 3, but for a network of locations in southern and central Finland. Daily values of ETS and precipitation, as well as minimum and maximum daily temperatures were allocated to 12 growth phases of the crop and used as explanatory variables in these studies. In Section 4, yield functions for both barley and oats were developed using cross-sectional data from different locations over much of Finland for the period 1979–1981. In this case the explanatory variables were only effective temperature sum and growing season precipitation.