Farmer perceptions of climate change and adaptation during the 2017–2020 Australian drought

ABSTRACT

Despite being the most tangibly impacted by the first-order effects of a warming climate, much of Australia’s agricultural regions have remained relatively conservative in their views on climate change and the need for adaptation. This paper aims to understand how the experience of an extreme climate event like the 2017–2020 drought might shift opinions and values on these issues within agricultural communities. Through in-depth interviews with 20 graziers across Northwest NSW during the worst days of the drought, we found that various psychological lock-ins, historical memories of resilience, and local cultural values appeared to be undermining the perception of their vulnerability, while enhancing perceptions of their ability to endure. Such discursive constructions appear to explain why a jarring climatic event like the 2017–2020 drought was failing to produce a noticeable shift in their views.

KEYWORDS:

• Drought
• climate change
• agriculture
• adaptation
• transition
• farming

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 While it is difficult to attribute any specific event to anthropogenic climate change, it is clear that Australia’s average temperature increase of approximately 1°C since 1950 has had significant consequences for agriculture, with extreme heat events becoming more intense and frequent, and recent decades showing a trend towards lower average rainfall (Bureau of Meteorology 2016). Models suggest that droughts will become more frequent and acute as higher temperatures increase evaporation rates (King, Karoly, and Henley 2017).

2 While this general sentiment is indeed real and was communicated across our interview data, it is important to note that Australia’s agricultural regions are not a homogenous entity, and views on environmental issues often vary widely across different regions and sectors, with sectors like livestock grazing arguably among the more conservative on the issue. In particular, several major farm organisations and lobby groups have called for a structured policy on emissions reductions across the agricultural sector and national economy, and groups like Farmers for Climate Action and the Lock the Gate Alliance have helped to consolidate a growing base of support for climate action in rural Australia. Moreover, the pivot by some members of the Nationals and Liberal parties to become champions of extractive industries and mining interests is also critical to understanding the Coalition’s weak climate policy (see e.g. Chubb 2014).

3 This is equivalent to roughly 11 percent of Australia’s total national GHG emissions (Department of Primary Industries 2019b).

4 These findings dovetail with recent studies on the social impacts of drought in rural Australia, which note that environmental shocks can strengthen a ‘self-help’ mind-set (Cheshire 2006; Anderson 2014; Mazur, Curtis, and Rogers 2013).

5 Interviews ranged in duration from 60 to 90 min, with the majority conducted on the property of the respondents, and the remainder conducted via telephone. Potential interview participants were indirectly contacted via distribution of invitation flyers by local community organisations.

6 The Farm Management Deposit scheme was designed to help farmers deal with inconsistent income from natural disasters, inclement weather, and market changes. It does so by allowing them to set aside pre-tax income in high-income years, which they can then draw upon in low-income years.

7 Resources published by the Australian Meat Processing Corporation as well collaborative projects between MLA and state governments were also cited by multiple respondents.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gabrielle Miller

Gabrielle Miller holds a Master’s degree in Environmental Sociology from the University of Melbourne. Her research focuses on building community resilience in disaster-prone rural and regional areas of Australia.

Robert MacNeil

Robert MacNeil is a Senior Lecturer in Environmental Politics at the University of Sydney. His work focuses on the relationship between neoliberalism and climate policy in Anglosphere countries.