Western Australia
April 1, 2008
Source:
GRDC's The Crop Doctor
Farming in a changing climate was
the theme at the recent GRDC supported WANTFA Conference in
Perth.
University of Western Australia
Associate Professor Ross Kingwell, Chief Economist with
DAFWA, addressed the
economics of climate change and the implications for growers.
He pointed out that projected climate change is a big challenge
for farmers and scientists because growing conditions in many
parts of the traditional grainbelt of Western Australia could become less
favourable.
Western Australia is a major source of the nation’s grain
exports, so responding to the climate change challenge is in the
national interest.
Professor Kingwell said many farms have diversified, with
portfolios of on-farm enterprises and off-farm investments, yet
accompanying this diversity is a skewed distribution of wealth
and farm size. This has implications for the sector’s response
to climate change.
Large businesses may be better able to spatially diversify,
giving them the potential to capitalise on, or modify, climate
change and variability impacts.
The way forward for growers was to ensure their capacity to
adapt was not impaired. In the near term this meant improved
options for managing current climate variability.
He pointed to the need for collaboration between scientists and
farmers to: deliver more efficient water use; deliver new
varieties with greater drought, heat-shock and pest and disease
resistance; reduce crop production risk by staggered planting,
better erosion control, minimal soil disturbance and crop
residue retention; facilitate crop operations via better weather
forecasting.
Professor Kingwell said simulation and projection studies show a
“complex spatial story”, where climate change impacts could vary
greatly across regions, with some facing much bigger climate
challenges than others.
If the rate of climate change was faster than has been
suggested, the ability of farm businesses to adjust and remain
profitable would be a real challenge.
He suggested that grower reliance on regionally relevant,
climate related and anticipatory R&D will increase. Appropriate
innovation and adjustment will be the keys to successful farming
in the face of climate change, he said. |
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The Crop Doctor is
GRDC Managing Director,
Peter Reading |
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