by Alicia Burgman Portfolio Leader Agriculture and FMCG

Climate change is the biggest scapegoat out there at the moment. It seems almost everything that’s going wrong at the moment can be linked to and designated to be a result of climate change. One sector that has been waiting patiently for the penny to drop is the agriculture sector, in particular those growing food for domestic and international markets. Climate change also formed the basis of the Prime Minister’s speech at yesterday’s ABARE Outlook conference in Canberra. Country areas have long been the stronghold of The Nationals, but last year’s election highlighted the changing nature of rural voters with one third of the 45 seats in the country now held by the ALP (See P&Ps analysis in the Rudd Book for more).

While there will always be arguments about the environmental footprint of certain sectors, it’s difficult to dispute the fact that Australian farmers don’t have a long history working with the weather. From searing drought to flooding rains, they’ve seen it all and unlike most of us who can still get up and go to work regardless of the weather, the changing patterns are directly impacting the viability of an entire industry.

This is not to say changing weather patterns are a new phenomenon for farmers. Their livelihoods depend on their ability to accurately forecast weather patterns and plan accordingly. While this has been challenging recently, farmers are used to changing their plans depending on what the weather is doing. This sector is opportunistic in nature and has to be to ensure its survival.

Farmers’ understanding of these patterns should be drawn upon by decision makers to inform policy. There’s a wealth of information farmers can provide in terms of really pinpointing differences in the climate patterns in recent times. It was great to read recently that it’s these older farmers who are really convinced there’s something out of the ordinary going on here, which is a change from what you normally hear and see.

While there’s still a lot of air left in the climate change debate, it’s a debate we need to have. While the commercial impacts of changing production to become ‘climate friendly’ are real and likely to be large, this is an debate which requires vision. And if we don’t start looking for solutions to the problems we have created, the outlook for future generations is certainly bleak