Goondiwindi grain and cattle producer Peter Mailler says heat and inconsistent rain have made farming so tough he thinks his parents' five MW solar farm could be a better bet. Wayne Pratt |
It is aimed especially at the Nationals and their former leader Barnaby Joyce – against whom Mr Mailler ran in last December's byelection – as well as ex-PM Tony Abbott and other coal power-friendly Coalition figures.
First, don't pretend to champion drought-struck
farmers if you're not prepared to tackle climate change – because the
increasing frequency of extremely hot, dry weather is compounding the
effects of drought by impairing crops' ability to use what rain they do
get.
Second, don't talk about giving coal-fired power "a free kick" in the National Energy Guarantee (NEG)
when a full accounting of its environmental costs will tell you not
that we can't afford to close coal plants but that "we can't afford to
run one tomorrow".Peter Mailler says agriculture is working towards becoming carbon neutral but it is a challenge because it uses so much diesel fuel for machinery and transport. Wayne Pratt |
Last, the impacts of climate change on farming families threaten the survival of the Nationals' support base in rural and regional Australia, so it is time for the Coalition to dispense with "undermining science" and have an honest debate about climate change.
"In a normal year we produce enough grain to feed about 7000 families and I am flat out educating my kids," Mr Mailler tells The Australian Financial Review from his near 2420-hectare property near Goondiwindi on the NSW-Queensland border.
"I
actually don't see a pathway for my kids to come back – and some of
them want to." His parents built a five-megawatt solar farm on their
property when they retired and he thinks this could be a better bet.
Mr
Mailler says the conversation needs to be more robust. "If Turnbull and
his cohort are nor prepared to diligently install some truth in the
debate then what's the point?" he says.Coal-friendly coailtion MPs Craig Kelly, Eric Abetz, Tony Abbott, Barnaby Joyce and Kevin Andrews are doing farmers no favours, Peter Mailler says. Alex Ellinghausen |
A 'free kick' for electricity
That makes it "disingenuous" and "hypocritical" for Mr Joyce to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers and say "we have got to do something about the drought and not say we have got to do something about climate change".
That makes it "disingenuous" and "hypocritical" for Mr Joyce to stand shoulder to shoulder with farmers and say "we have got to do something about the drought and not say we have got to do something about climate change".
Mr
Mailler says politicians have the resources to find out the truth "yet
we have politicians who spend all their time trying to undermine science
and create doubt".
Moree in northern NSW sweated through an unprecedented heatwave in January and February of 2017. Supplied |
"They are talking about trying to claw back
more emissions from agriculture and they are talking about giving
electricity a free kick. It's ridiculous."
Prime
Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg will
propose a "coal-friendly" side deal for the NEG at Tuesday's party room
meeting to try to win over climate change sceptics.
Critics say the NEG is already too coal-friendly
because it only requires a pro rata 26 per cent carbon emissions cut
from the electricity sector. CSIRO advised the government that grid
emissions would have to be cut by 52 per cent to 70 per cent for
Australia to meet the government's Paris pledge for an economy-wide 26
per cent cut because it is much more costly to cut emissions in other
industries. Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will try to win backbench sceptics over the NEG with a coal-friendly side-deal. Alex Ellinghausen |
"The hardest thing to solve is transport. The
simplest thing to change is static electricity. If you look at it,
coal-fired power generators are coming to the end of their life. The
idea that you could have politicians effectively saying we should build
more of them and have them for another 50 years is absurd."
Heat and rain: Double whammy
Heat and rain: Double whammy
Mr
Mailler's position is influenced by bitter experience as well as
science. In January 2014, the nearest Bureau of Meteorology station at
Moree recorded a record high of 47.3 degrees Celsius, and everyone said
it was "a one-in-a-hundred year event".
Yallourn coal-fired power station in Victoria's Latrobe Valley. Carla Gottgens |
That one day wiped out
crops and cost the region hundreds of millions of dollars in production,
he says. But it didn't get the same attention as losses from cyclones,
which are more visible.
In February last year the one-in-a-hundred year event happened again, only this time it came with a record run of days over 35 degrees.
"In some of those scenarios we have adequate moisture but we can't handle the heat. People are unable to get ahead. Even though some of those years before we have had significant rainfall, the way it's fallen in big dumps has been problematic and the heat has meant we are not able to use that rainfall as effectively as we have in the past."
Recent analysis in the McIntyre Valley indicates that irrigators' water use efficiency is down 30 per cent, and for dryland farmers 60 per cent, Mr Mailler says. Another measure is the inability to get consecutive good years or even one in five – the minimum to build resilience – for more than 20 years.
The last really good year in his region was 1996, Mr Mailler says – which gave him the confidence to strike out on his own.
"I have no doubt that in my lifetime weather patterns have shifted significantly. I don't know many farmers who would dispute that the climate has changed," he says.
In February last year the one-in-a-hundred year event happened again, only this time it came with a record run of days over 35 degrees.
Biochemical
reactions like photosynthesis are optimised at 37-38 degrees. But at
extreme high temperatures plants go into shock and the photosynthesis
process is degraded.
As well, rain is increasingly coming in big
dumps followed by dry spells, which make it harder for young plants to
get going than if less rain falls more frequently."In some of those scenarios we have adequate moisture but we can't handle the heat. People are unable to get ahead. Even though some of those years before we have had significant rainfall, the way it's fallen in big dumps has been problematic and the heat has meant we are not able to use that rainfall as effectively as we have in the past."
Recent analysis in the McIntyre Valley indicates that irrigators' water use efficiency is down 30 per cent, and for dryland farmers 60 per cent, Mr Mailler says. Another measure is the inability to get consecutive good years or even one in five – the minimum to build resilience – for more than 20 years.
The last really good year in his region was 1996, Mr Mailler says – which gave him the confidence to strike out on his own.
"I have no doubt that in my lifetime weather patterns have shifted significantly. I don't know many farmers who would dispute that the climate has changed," he says.
"And it's obviously going to get worse."
Links
Links
- Farmers For Climate Action
- 'We've turned a corner': farmers shift on climate change and want a say on energy
- Acceptance is fine, but farmers need climate action
- While politicians question the reality of climate change, farmers and businesses act
- How to help farmers prepare for climate change
- Climate change: Drought forces farming methods re-think
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