How can agriculture cope with heat stress
Climate extremes, including heatwaves and droughts, are becoming more frequent and severe across Europe. In July 2026 alone, temperatures in many countries rose 5°C to 12°C above seasonal averages, causing serious socio-economic impacts and disrupting agricultural activities. As heatwaves become more intense, widespread, and unpredictable, heat-stress adaptation measures must be planned in advance at both farm and landscape levels.
Heat stress disrupts key stages of crop development reducing fertility, accelerating grain ripening, and increasing water demand. In the case of the livestock sector, high temperatures not only significantly impact animal’s daily cycle and grazing period, but they also reduce feed intake and efficiency while increasing water consumption. Under extreme conditions, heat stress substantially raise animal mortality rates. Across the EU, crop losses caused by droughts and heatwaves have tripled over the past 50 years, highlighting the growing threat that extreme heat poses to agricultural productivity and food security.
Adapting crop management
Mitigating the effects of heatwaves on crops requires measures that reduce plant and soil temperatures while maintaining adequate water availability. The points below summarise actions that can be taken over different time horizons.
In the short-term
- Crop-level heat protection, through measures such as multifunctional nets, kaolin-based leaf applications, late or reduced pruning, and greenhouses or foil covers.
- Irrigation is a key action to limit the effects of extreme heat and declining soil moisture. As irrigation can place additional pressure on scarce water resources, efficient systems and sustainable water-management solutions should be prioritised.
- Anticipate the effects of heatwaves by:
- selecting crops and varieties whose growing cycles minimise exposure to periods of extreme heat, including early-maturing varieties for winter and spring crops;
- diversifying production towards crops that are more tolerant of high temperatures, such as sorghum instead of maize; and
- promoting resilient farming systems, including organic farming and agroecology.
- Anticipate the effects of heatwaves by:
- Increase water availability by investing in adequate water-storage infrastructure, implementing natural water-retention measures through coordinated action at territorial level, expanding the reuse of treated water for irrigation, and promoting circular approaches to water management. Together, these measures can reduce the risks of drought, flooding, and wildfire while strengthening the resilience and adaptability of agriculture landscapes.
- Enhance soil health and water-storage capacity through practices such as reduced tillage, permanent soil cover, controlled machinery use to prevent compaction, increased soil organic matter, and targeted water harvesting practices in permanent crops. These measures help soils retain moisture for longer and reduce crop vulnerability during dry periods.
Adapting livestock
Improving livestock resilience to heat stress requires both immediate management measures and longer-term investments.
Short-term practices for dealing with heat stress
- Ensure permanent access to clean, fresh drinking water and increase the number of watering points where necessary.
- Provide natural or artificial shade in grazing areas and resting zones.
- Adjust feeding schedules to cooler periods of the day and adapt diets to maintain feed intake during heatwaves.
- Where possible, reduce stocking densities for indoor livestock to minimise heat accumulation and improve air circulation.
- Implement emergency response protocols for transport, handling and other stressful management practices during the hottest hours of the day.
- Increase the monitoring of animal behaviour indicators to detect early signs of heat stress and enable timely corrective action.
- Invest in climate-resilient livestock buildings equipped with adequate isolation, monitoring systems, and water and energy efficient cooling systems.
- Introduce precision livestock farming technologies, including environmental sensors and automated monitoring systems, to continuously monitor thermal comfort and animal welfare.
- Develop on-farm water storage and reuse systems to ensure adequate water availability during periods of high demand.
- Develop agroforestry and agro-sylvo-pastoral systems that integrate trees into livestock production, providing long-term shade and improving ecosystem resilience.
- Promote breeding and genetic-selection programmes that conserve locally adapted livestock breeds while incorporating heat-tolerance and climate-resilience traits alongside productivity and animal-health objectives.
Implemented individually or in combination, these measures can substantially reduce the impacts of heat stress and other climate extremes.
Many can already be implemented by farmers, while others require investment, technical guidance and public support, particularly where implementation is costly or complex. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can support the uptake of these adaptation measures.
Main farm-level adaptation actions
Examples of CAP interventions
Addressing increasingly frequent climate extremes requires stronger action to enhance the resilience of EU agriculture. The CAP supports farmers in adapting their production systems to changing climatic conditions while delivering wider ecosystem services.
The examples below illustrate how CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) are supporting adaptation to heat stress.
Hungary – Dairy cattle welfare measures supporting adaptation to heat stress
Hungary’s CSP includes a dedicated intervention for dairy cattle welfare supporting improved housing, feeding, animal health and farm management. The intervention promotes lower stocking densities, preventive animal health measures, enhanced supervision, adequate mineral nutrition and more natural production systems, including access to grazing where possible.
Farmers that adopt these higher welfare standards, receive compensation for the additional costs and income foregone.
The intervention also strengthens resilience to heat stress:
- lower animal density reduces heat load and overcrowding,
- grazing opportunities allow animals to access more natural and often cooler environments, and
- improved nutrition and health monitoring help maintain resilience during periods of thermal stress.
Preventive management and reduced antimicrobial use further contribute to healthier, more resilient dairy herds.
Cyprus – Animal welfare measures strengthening livestock resilience to heatwaves
Cyprus’ CSP includes dedicated animal welfare interventions for pigs and dairy cows to improve housing and livestock management. Measures include lower stocking densities, improved ventilation and air quality, regular monitoring of water supply, balanced nutrition, enhanced health surveillance and, where available, electronic monitoring of animal welfare indicators.
These measures also strengthen resilience to increasingly frequent heatwaves. More space per animal reduces heat stress, while improved ventilation, continuous access to water and close health monitoring help livestock cope with high temperatures.
Early detection of welfare issues further improves the resilience of livestock systems under hotter climatic conditions.
Greece – Shift towards climate resilient crops
The eco-scheme ‘Use of resilient and adapted species and varieties’ promotes crops that are better suited to hot and dry Mediterranean conditions, to reduce irrigation demand, increase climate resilience and support biodiversity.
The intervention consists of two complementary actions:
- Promoting winter cereals and winter legumes as alternatives to water-intensive crops such as maize, alfalfa and cotton.
- These crops, including local and traditional varieties, are naturally adapted to Mediterranean conditions, rely mainly on rainfall, and have lower water and nutrient requirements.
- Prioritising winter crops reduces irrigation needs and increases resilience to more frequent droughts.
- Supporting the introduction of climate-resilient and innovative crops, such as aromatic and medicinal plants.
