Preliminary Pages

Foreword

“Where grows? – where grows it not?

If vain our toil – we ought to blame

The culture – not the soil”

Alexander Pope in Epistle IV, Essay on Man 1824

Among Committee members on this inquiry, there exists a broad and divergent range of views on climate change itself; this should not detract from a bipartisan recognition of the need to change farming practices for so many reasons, and recognising that a ‘one size fits all’ approach is not the most effective appropriate response. So there is a need for research into different farming techniques and processes.

Change in the rural sector has always been difficult; generational change was, up until recently, badly dealt with. Dad handing over at seventy to son, 50, who is sitting with the cheque book at the kitchen table, while 27 year old son waits in the wings impatiently arguing for change. How does he win against this generational culture?

I look at this way. I have lived in this country all my life and I have watched the seasons come and go. I have seen changes in the elements over the last 50 years or so. I guess it has been about 50 years since I started taking notice of climate and changes in the weather.

Growing up in the country, of course, the weather was always a subject of conversation. I have also noted that climate conditions have become more unsettled in the latter part of my time on earth. I do not know enough about the science to say that global warming is occurring, but I do feel that the climate is changing on an irregular basis and there are many reasons for it to do so. There are some natural reasons for climate change and there are the activities of man and the animals with whom we share the earth.

Man has been able to influence and change some of the natural influences of climate through being able to harness some of our natural resources to make living in our world easier.

In order to have these basics of life, to be able to provide everyone with these commodities and to have a surplus for trade, we have manipulated their production.

If you have, as most people do, a basic understanding of chemistry, then you understand that when you add elements to the atmosphere there will be changes, some of them good and some of them not altogether desirable. With any sort of mass production there is a waste stream—emissions, if you like. That waste stream also has to be dealt with, whether by recycling it, by reusing it in some way or by disposing of it safely. We do those things a lot better than we used to, when we started mass production.

Whatever we do, and however we do it, there is an element of cost. There will always be an element of cost. If, therefore, we are trying to minimise man’s effect on the earth, then there is an expense attached to it. We have been aware of that for some time.

There is the cost of dealing with waste. When people live together in high-density environments, the land cannot deal with the waste naturally. We have to intervene—to take it away, to pump it out or do something else to deal with it. This is the same with whatever product or activity we are coping with, whether it is the waste from a cheese factory or the waste from a chicken coop. We have learnt to take some of the waste from our production and turn that into a plus for us as well. This can help mitigate the costs involved with waste disposal and we can even gain from it.

Science has helped in many ways to deal with waste, whether it be by recycling it, reusing it, rendering it inert or carefully destroying it—but, whatever you do, or how careful you are, there is always a bit left over. But it does not mean that it is useless.

So in this report, we have attempted to identify all the positive things that are happening in the rural sector, to hear how people are using waste material (such as carbon) of one industry to enhance another, to work out processes for generational change and to look at government processes and how it can further assist. We looked at what new research needs to be done and how to get that information out to all those who want to improve their practices.  

We are also very aware that with change comes casualties and we need to ensure that those who have just had enough can be assisted to move out and allow the younger generations to pick up the old ploughshare and turn it into a more modern tool to move this oldest of industries into the future. So we don’t have to blame the culture or the soil.

My colleagues and I would like to thank the many individuals and organisations who contributed to the inquiry, particularly those whose properties we visited and who shared their ideas and aspirations. It has given us great hope for the future.

I would like to thank my Deputy Chair Alby Schultz and the rest of the Committee for their dedication and support on this inquiry, it has been a pleasure to work with them.

Finally the Committee Members and I would also like to thank the Committee Secretariat, Julia Morris, Dr Bill Pender and Dr Deborah King and their administrative support, Kane and Tarran, for their hard work especially over the Christmas period, to produce this report.

The Hon Dick Adams MP

Chair

Membership of the Committee

Committee Secretariat

Terms of reference

The Committee to inquire into and report upon:

n  Current and prospective adaptations to the impacts of climate change on agriculture and the potential impacts on downstream processing.

n  The role of government in:

§  augmenting the shift towards farming practices which promote resilience in the farm sector in the face of climate change;

§  promoting research, extension and training which assists the farm sector to better adapt to climate change.

n  The role of rural research and development in assisting farmers to adapt to the impacts of climate change.

List of abbreviations

Acronyms

Glossary

List of recommendations

2     Making Decisions On-farm

Recommendation 1

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government support rural counselling and support groups, such as Rural Alive and Well, and place funding for such groups on a permanent and regular basis.

Recommendation 2

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government, as part of its overall response to issues affecting agriculture and climate change, take more effective account of the needs and decision making processes of farmers and ensure that the delivery of adaptation programs is flexible and responsive to the needs of farmers and rural communities.

3     Current and Prospective Adaptations

Recommendation 3

The Committee recommends that the Australian Government, as part of its overall response to issues affecting agriculture and climate change, invest research funding in the following high priority areas: