Abstract
The people of Iceland have always relied on livestock, especially sheep, for food and other essential products. Animal husbandry was of particular importance in earlier times, when other resources, such as fish, were less readily available than they are today. The annual hay crop, needed to provide extra winter fodder, was vital to this type of farming. In this paper, relationships between grass growth and hay yield, and the climate variables of temperature and precipitation are examined for the period 1601 to 1780 by means of simple statistical tests. The results show a strong link between climate and grass growth and hay yield. Considerable regional variability is noted, however, with the northern part of Iceland clearly more sensitive to climatic fluctuations than the southern part.
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Ogilvie, A.E.J. (1984). The Impact of Climate on Grass Growth and Hay Yield in Iceland: A.D. 1601 to 1780. In: Mörner, NA., Karlén, W. (eds) Climatic Changes on a Yearly to Millennial Basis. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7692-5_37
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-7692-5_37
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
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