Climate change policy fallout on farmers

VICTORIAN farmers adapt to climate variability well, according to the climate change policy manager for the Department of Primary Industries.
David Griffin told attendees of the AgFutures forum at Gumbuya Park last week that agriculture was one of the only truly renewable industrial sectors.
“The policy of climate change has been a torturous journey. There has been a lot of uncertainty in the policy environment,” he said.
Mr Griffin explained how climate change policy would affect Victorian farmers.
“What we need is to be able to measure emissions on farms to help farmers.
“What we also found was that reducing emissions makes the processes more efficient, which means that farmers can learn how to be more productive,” he said.
Mr Griffin spoke about the various policies employed by governments and the danger for politicians.
“Methane and nitrous oxide are excluded from the carbon trading policy. The agriculture industry will be indirectly affected by a price on carbon,” he explained.
Victor Sposito, a Melbourne University lecturer and DPI representative, said the future was unwritten in terms of the impacts of climate change action.
“Climate change is global, but the action needs to be local and the people on the ground need to be involved the whole way through.
“We must work together with the community,” he said.