An Analysis of Livestock Choice : Adapting to Climate Change in Latin American Farms

The authors explore how Latin American
livestock farmers adapt to climate by switching species.
They develop a multinomial choice model of farmer's
choice of livestock species. Estimating the models across
over 1,200 livestock farmers in seven countries, they find
that both temperature and precipitation affect the species
Latin American farmers choose. The authors then use this
model to predict how future climate scenarios would affect
species choice. Global warming will cause farmers to switch
to beef cattle at the expense of dairy cattle.