The Western Cape province of South Africa is well known for its grain and wine production. However, the agricultural sector in the semi-arid, water-stressed country is highly climate sensitive. The severity of future impacts of climate change on farming outputs is largely determined by farmers’ present ability and action to adapt. Here, understanding the motivating factors leading to adaptive behaviour among farmers is key to promoting climate change adaptation to secure food production and livelihoods. Against this backdrop, Talanow et al. (2020) examine farmers’ perception of climate change, the appraisal of associated risks, and perceived adaptation capacity.

Talanow et al. (2020) argue that farmers’ behaviour is influenced by both internal factors including complex cognitive processes and external influences such as access to resources. In addition, adaptation behaviour can be divided into coping, which consists of immediate or short-term responses to impacts and hazards, and adaptation itself, seen as transformative medium…