Perceptions of climate change and adaptation in Hungarian agriculture: results of an interview study

In this paper, the results of an interview survey of farmers in Győr-Moson-Sopron, Fejer, Hajdu-Bihar, Jasz-Nagykun-Szolnok, Pest and Zala (NUTS 3) counties of Hungary are used to demonstrate the major factors of climate change perception, such as the terms psychological climate, temporality and problem localisation. Adaptation strategies are also discussed. The interview results underline the subjectivity of temporality as well as the fact that the phenomenon of localisation and the narratives for place attachment differ when climate change is interpreted within the locality. Considering adaptation, it seems that Hungarian agriculture includes individuals who can be regarded as leaders or as people escaping ahead in terms of climatic adaptation, but the majority seems to be unable to follow them because they lack the necessary knowledge, technology or financial resources.