Farmers Asked To Share Their Climate Change Experience

Australian Geographic - Gemma Chilton

Farmers around Australia are being asked to share their experiences of climate change in a new national survey

Peter Holding is a third-generation grain, wool and lamb farmer from southern NSW. Image Credit: Holly Bradford

IF THERE'S ANY group of Australians who are likely to see and fully appreciate the impacts of climate change first-hand, it's our farmers, who rely on the patterns and moods of the weather to make a living.
Farmers like Peter Holding, who is a third-generation mixed-operation farmer (wheat, canola, wool and lamb) from southern NSW. Peter's family has been farming their land on the south-west slopes of Harden since 1929.
He says he first really started to be impacted by the changing climate with the big, late-season frost event of 1998, followed by the unprecedented drought period of the first decade of the 2000s.
Today, Peter is vocal about the need to do something about climate change.
He is also a member of the newly formed Farmers For Climate Action, which is asking farmers around Australia to share their experiences of, and attitudes towards, climate change in a nation-wide survey.
 This is the first Australia-wide survey of its kind and was launched last week at a large, annual NSW agribusiness event called Henty Field Days.

Volunteers from Farmers for Climate Action prepare to survey farmers at Henty Field Days, NSW. (Source: Farmers for Climate Action)

Peter says farmers are at the "frontline" of climate change, and he thinks attitudes among farmers are changing - however the survey, which has already received hundreds of entries, will paint a clearer picture.
Cattle farmer and businesswoman Lucinda Corrigan, who has already completed the survey, is now encouraging other farmers to do the same.
"We already know agriculture is Australia's most climate-exposed industry, but precise impacts vary between regions and sectors. For me, in southern NSW, we're seeing increasing temperatures and our rainfall patterns significantly alter, and this makes short and long-term planning for our agribusiness more challenging," she says.
"It's critical that as many farmers as possible get involved in this conversation because the decisions made today and tomorrow will affect us long into the future. We want to make sure we can keep farming into not just the next season, but for generations to come."
Farmers For Climate Action will use the survey results to inform their practices and areas of focus. Farmers who complete the five-minute survey will also go in the draw to win a solar system and battery storage worth $15,000.

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