Climate Change Adaptations on Sheep and Beef Farms: A case study investigation

Abstract

Climate change and an increase in climate variability over preceding decades, has meant that farmers needed to adapt their farming system to accommodate this.This paper reports on eight case study sheep and beef farms which were analysed as to the changes they have made, and the impacts of these changes on the farm system, profitability, and biological greenhouse gas emissions. The farmers were interviewed about their changes, the drivers behind these, their observations of changes in climatic conditions, and the impact on the profitability of their farm business. The farms were then analysed using Farmax to quantify the impact of these changes on financial and productivity metrics. In most cases, the key objective for the farmers was to develop a more flexible farm system to cope with climatic variability, while at the same time ensuring the farm business remained profitable. Overall, the changes involved improving both the efficiency and productivity of the system, development of the farm, i.e. more subdivision, a change in forages, an increase in trading stock, especially cattle, and for several an increase in the area planted in lucerne.