KIM NICHOLAS
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Winegrower adaptation to climate change

​I first became interested in agricultural climate adaptation in my PhD dissertation, for which I interviewed winegrowers and winemakers in Northern California to understand their motivations for management decision-making, and analyzed their vulnerability and adaptive capacity to climate change.

​We concluded that, while a number of adaptation options exist, grower responses to environmental stresses tended to be individual, reactive, and based on past experience, which presents challenges for adapting to the novel and increased stresses of climate change (Nicholas and Durham, 2012, Global Environmental Change).
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Nicholas & Durham, 2012

Understanding farmer decisionmaking

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Feola et al., 2015, J. Rural Studies
What do farmers think about when they make decisions about managing their farms? And how do changing conditions influence these decisions? Understanding farmer behavior can help develop more sustainable and resilient farming systems in the face of changes and volatility in climate, consumer demand, and land competition. In this study (summarized in this blog post for SIANI), we gathered five diverse case studies to develop a framework for studying farmer decisions to account for the environmental and social context, the interaction of many influences across scales, and how farmers act over time. 

UK Low-carbon wine pioneers

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MSc student Ellen Redford writes about how the emerging wine industry in Sussex, England can adopt best practices from low-carbon wine pioneers. ​

Motivations of organic German winegrowers

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Master's student Laura Siepmann summarizes her thesis findings on motivations for German winegrowers to adopt organic farming. See also her earlier fieldwork report. The full study was published open-access in 2018. 

Interview Protocols

In response to requests, I'm happy to make my original protocols for the interviews I conducted for my PhD research available here. Please feel free to adapt and use as you like. If you end up using them, you can cite the original source as Nicholas and Durham 2012. 

The full interview questionnaire (longform sheet for interviewer to fill out during interview, includes ranking exercises with cards)
Short interview questions (adapted to be easier to use in practice) 

See also my blog post on research design and ethics for survey research, including a link to the human subjects protocol I had approved to conduct this research. 



Connect

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  • Home
  • About
  • Book
    • UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE
    • Book Seminar
    • Teach UNDER THE SKY WE MAKE
    • Discussion Questions
    • Book Clubs
    • Support the Book
    • Press Kit & Images
    • Request from Local Bookstore/Library
    • How to order outside US/Canada
    • Behind the Scenes
    • If My Book Were Music
  • Research
    • Lab Members
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Flying Less >
      • The Takeoff of Staying on the Ground
      • Policy Briefs
      • Ingen ny tid för avgång
      • Academics Flying Less
    • Radically Reducing Lund's Emissions
    • Climate Solutions >
      • What Can I Do? 2 >
        • What Can I Do?
        • High School Teaching Materials
        • Fyra klimatsmarta livsstilsval
        • Press Release: 4 Lifestyle Choices That Most Reduce Your Carbon Footprint
        • The Climate Mitigation Gap: Study & Video Abstract
        • Study FAQs
      • Climate Science 101
      • Climate Policy >
        • IPCC Report on 1.5°
        • Kims Klimatval
        • COP21 (Paris Agreement)
      • Farmer adaptation
      • Harnessing biodiversity
    • Climate Education
    • Sustainable Land >
      • Global land use
      • European farming systems
      • Swedish land use
      • Ecosystem Services & OPERAs
      • REDD+
      • Land Acquisitions
    • Sustainable Food >
      • Urban Food Forestry
      • Local food in Iceland
      • One Great Meal
      • Dietary choices & climate change
      • Crop yields & climate
    • Wine, Climate, & Sustainability >
      • Wine & Climate: Impacts & Solutions
      • Wine Diversity for Climate Adaptation
      • Wine yields & quality under climate change
      • Farmer climate adaptation
      • Vineyard ecosystems & landscapes
      • European Wine Case Studies (OPERAs)
    • For Kids (K-12)
  • Writing
    • Newsletter
    • Peer-Reviewed Publications
    • Magazines & Popular Science
    • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Teaching
    • Teaching Overview
    • Climate Change Curriculum
    • We Can Fix It World Cafe >
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2017
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2016
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2015
      • We Can Fix It World Cafe 2014
    • Courses >
      • Writing for Change >
        • Course Readings
        • Apply
        • Course Information
    • Advice for Students
    • Peer Writing Tutors >
      • Instructions for Peer Tutors
      • Apply to be a writing tutor!
    • Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
    • Early Career
    • R Tutorials >
      • R tutorial 1: Basic calculations and graphs
      • R tutorial 2: Data Visualization
    • Student-Led Exams >
      • Simplified Self Grading
      • DIY Exam Teaching Notes
      • Peer Grading
      • Self Grading
  • Activism
  • Contact