Learning about climate change: A case study of grain growers in eastern Australia

Abstract

“Farmers are the only indispensable people on the face of the earth.” - Li Zhaoxing, Ambassador, China. “The diligent farmer plants trees, of which he himself will never see the fruit.” - Cicero. These two quotes encapsulate the challenge of educating farmers about issues relating to climate change and adapting to farming in drying conditions. As a society we need farmers to provide the sustenance for the increasing global human population while at the same time taking on the role of an environmental steward to the land that they farm. These are tasks that need to be done within an economic framework that ensures that food is and remains affordable and in many regions, a climate that has become increasingly dry. After more than a century of progressively industrializing agriculture, particularly in developed nations, thereby making the practice of farming less labor intensive through the use of increased technology, many farmers are now faced with the challenge of adapting farming practices to drier climatic conditions. This is particularly the case with broad acre cropping and mixed farmers across the grain growing regions of eastern Australia. This case study research identifies how farmers choose to obtain information about climate change and which sources they find most trustworthy. It also identifies that a belief in human induced climate change may not be critical in getting farmers to adapt their farming practices.