11 July 2023 – With a possible El Niño on the cards, farmers are being encouraged to get on the front foot.
Farmers for Climate Action spokesperson Peter Holding, who farms at Harden NSW, said many farmers were concerned about the possibility of warmer, drier conditions and increased weather variability for eastern Australia this spring and summer.
“The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) hasn’t called it yet, but it says there’s a 70% chance we’ll have an El Niño this year. It’s also worried dry conditions could be compounded by a positive Indian Ocean Dipole.”
Farmer, Peter Holding
The 7 hottest days on Earth in the last 100,000+ years all happened in the last week. These were Planet Earth’s average temperatures:
July 6 ~ 17.23°C / 63.01°F
July 7 ~ 17.20°C / 62.96°F
July 4 ~ 17.18°C / 62.93°F
July 5 ~ 17.18°C / 62.92°F
July 8 ~ 17.17°C / 62.90°F
July 10 ~ 17.12°C / 62.81°F
July 9 ~ 17.11°C / 62.79°F
Farmers for Climate Action (FCA), an organisation representing 8000 farmers, is hosting a webinar “El Niño explained” next week, bringing together a range of speakers, including from the BoM and Birchip Cropping Group. FCA say farmers and rural Australians would be hurt most by climate change.
Webinar “El Niño explained”, Thursday, 20 July at 12pm (AEST) RSVP to get Zoom link details
Mr Holding said the webinar was aimed at supporting farmers to better understand what is coming, and also what they can do on farm to prepare.
“Although some farmers have had good conditions recently, we know things can change in a few months. This is a great opportunity to get your head around what’s coming and how you might think about responding.”
Farmer, Peter Holding
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Mr Holding said that Australian farmers are great at adapting, but that ultimately we need to address the driving cause of climate change – emissions.
“Farmers are always looking three steps ahead to the next event but there are limits to their adaptation. While we adapt and mitigate on-farm, we need to know the rest of the economy is doing its bit to reduce emissions and tackle climate change, which is causing more frequent and severe weather events.”
Farmer, Peter Holding
Grazier Bruce Currie near Jericho in Queensland’s central-west, said prolonged hot, dry conditions would hit some farmers, but also rural communities.
“Farmers aren’t, can’t and won’t wait for a formal El Niño declaration.”
“Once a climate change-fuelled El Niño hits that lasts longer and is more severe, [it] means farmers have to de-stock earlier and for longer.”
Mr Currie explained.
Guest speakers at Farmers for Climate Action’s ‘El Niño explained’ webinar:
Catherine Ganter, Senior Climatologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, Graeme Hand a Holistic Management Certified Educator and Fiona Best, CEO of Birchip Cropping Group.
Thursday, 20 July at 12pm (AEST)
RSVP to get Zoom link details
A new report from CSIRO highlighting potential future water shortages in western NSW again shows how climate change is hurting regional people, Farmers for Climate Action said.
The CSIRO study comes as the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has pointed out it is “unsustainable” for it to deal with increasing floods and fires as well as defending the nation.
Defence Force personnel were vital during the 2022 Lismore Floods and the 2019-20 Black Summer Fires and the ADF told a Senate Inquiry in April that:
“While the ADF is proactively postured to support the response to domestic disaster relief, the unprecedented scale, duration and frequency of support is unsustainable without accepting significant impacts to ADF preparedness for its primary defence-of-Australia role.”
NSW sheep and cropping farmer Peter Holding said the CSIRO report Reshaping Australia’s Food Systems had found Australia’s food and water supply was ill-equipped to deal with climate change, and that access to clean water would be a growing issue for western NSW. Walgett, Wellington and Lake Cargelligo have all had issues with water supply in recent years.
“Climate change is hurting rural and regional Australians right now, with farmers on the receiving end of repeat damage from floods, fires and drought. It’s sending insurance premiums through the roof and sending farmers broke,” Mr Holding said. (Farmer flood stories and pictures here.)
“This has already harmed city people through increased food prices, as our Fork in the Road: Impacts of Climate Change on Food Supply report revealed last year. Food price rises might not affect the privileged all that much, but they really hurt average Australian families on average Australian wages.
“We need more renewables in the grid fast to help bring down energy prices. We need deep emissions reductions in this decisive decade to protect our farming families, our food supply and our national security.”
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