Through a questionnaire survey and in-depth interviews with 903 farmers in 80 villages of 23 townships (towns) in 17 counties (districts and cities) in northern Shaanxi, a multi-layer perceptron (MLP) model and adaptive behavior diversity index are constructed to analyze farmers′ perception of climate change and its influencing factors, farmers′ adaptive behaviors of climate change and their relationship with perception and livelihood capital. The results show that climate change affects farmers′ normal agricultural production and life, which leading to an increase in pests and diseases and a decline in crop yields. Education level, living time, frequecy of going to market and watching TV are important factors affecting farmers′ perception of climate change. The economic basis affects the diversity of farmers′ adaptive behavior. The perceived intensity affects the diversity of adaptive behavior.There is a significant positive correlation between the livelihood capital and the adaptive behavior diversity index.

dry farming area; farmers; perception; adaptive behavior diversification; livelihood capital