Short Memories - Farmer's experiences of the drought in 2018

The aim of this project is to secure information, experiences and opinions from farmers in Southern Sweden as a result of the extreme dry season in 2018. The worries for the farm, the animals, the fields, and the future during the drought of 2018 created stressful situations and demanded unconventional solutions. In order to secure a unique material for future research, we now aim to capture the experiences of the 2018 drought in the winter/spring season in 2019. Theoretically, the project relates to various forms of vulnerability and adaptation to climate change, including IPCC’s definitions, but also by defining drought as a socioeconomic phenomenon. The urgent need also has to do with the human memory: we tend to color our memories by enhancing and reducing peculiarities, which is amplified over time. The methodology is based on questionnaires and exchanges of experience in focus groups and interviews that testify to how farmers affected by the drought experienced their situation, what measures they took, what support they received from society and what their expectations are on society.