Australia’s first National Statement on Climate Change and Agriculture launched

On July 13, 2023, the nation’s agriculture ministers, including Federal Minister for Agriculture, Murray Watt, came together to jointly commit to working with Australia’s agricultural sector to ensure Australia continues to lead the way in climate-smart practices.

The statement recognises the important role Australia’s agricultural industry plays in tackling climate change and draws on existing research and analysis to demonstrate why climate change and agriculture matters.

“This statement is a snapshot of where Australia’s ag industry is at now, and a clear-eyed assessment of future work that needs to be done,” Minister Watt said.

“A climate-smart, sustainable agriculture sector will help make farming more productive and profitable, better protect our environment, increase access to international markets and strengthen our rural communities.

“There are emerging opportunities to act on climate change in the agricultural sector and this statement clearly demonstrates that we have the means and the will to get there.”

The statement outlines three key commitments:

The statement includes a series of case studies that showcase climate-smart practices across Australia. These include initiatives that target increased productivity, improve resilience to a warming climate, trial low-emissions technologies, connect with First Nations communities, and highlight on-farm research and demonstration pilots, and outreach programs.

By signing the agreement, the agriculture ministers agree to work together to achieve some set goals for the sector, which include:

“We can build on existing collaboration frameworks,” the statement said.

“Enhanced coordination of research priorities, resources and capabilities will help ensure strong outcomes while avoiding duplication or fragmentation of critical research effort.”

Farmers for Climate Action said the statement is an important first step towards setting up a national plan and key policies to future proof the agriculture industry.                        

The organisation’s director, Brett Hosking, said there were three particularly encouraging elements in the statement.

“There’s a commitment to make farm climate policies more consistent across Australia, a commitment to seek out opportunities presented to farmers by a low emissions future, and a commitment to pursue fair, free and open trade in agriculture to support emissions reductions,” he said.

“We don’t want our farmers to miss out on the huge opportunities a low-emissions economy creates. We know some of the big overseas markets which buy our farm produce are pushing us to do better on emissions and biodiversity, and this is a reality which must be met head-on.”

He said the Government need to be tougher on coal and gas companies to reduce their emissions.

“Farmers can’t reduce Australia’s emissions all on our own,” he said.

“Floods, drought and fires made worse by climate change are sending insurance costs through the roof. On my farm, we’re staring down the barrel of an El Niño right now.

“Farmers for Climate Action calls on all agriculture Ministers to keep these important commitments to combine efforts and resources to support Australia’s farmers to adapt to a changing climate whilst growing on-farm productivity. We will be watching closely. Honouring these commitments will help ensure Australian farmers continue to provide Australians and customers abroad with the cleanest, safest and most nutritional food in the world.”

In a statement, the National Farmers Federation (NFF) applauds the unified stance on advancing a sustainable farming sector, but said the lack of policies and action to address immediate issues, such as the live sheep export ban, is disappointing.

“With formal consultation concluding (on the live export ban) recently, we hope that ministers took the chance to reflect on the hardship the Federal Government’s policy would inflict on producers in WA.

“The NFF continues to call for a reversal of that policy as evidence mounts of the harm it will cause."

The NFF also expressed concern over the new Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for Poultry, and the lack of clarity on timeframe and support from the Government to help producers adapt and transition.

The organisation also called for more to be done to address the industry’s workforce woes.

“This month marked the start of several milestones that will make it harder for farmers to access workers,” Jochinke said.

Some changes include increased visa fees, inflexible hours and higher costs under the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme (PALM), a new wage threshold for temporary skilled migration, and reintroduction of the cap on student visa working hours.

“These are dramatic changes making Australia less attractive to workers, but also the changes to the PALM are so unworkable for employers, many of them walk away from the scheme.

“We also would have liked to see solutions come out of the meeting on worker accommodation, providing more agricultural training opportunities to Australians and showing a greater leadership on farm safety.

“We are going to see our workforce challenges deepen. This meeting was an opportunity to get back on track with some real workforce solutions, but we’ve had radio silence on tangible improvements.”