The fact is that Western Australia will experience a drying climate in coming years which will severely affect agriculture no matter how quickly climate change policy is implemented. Current estimates expect climate change to cause a productivity loss in agriculture of about 9 per cent by 2050.

Even when mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions starts to take effect, the climate will still continue to change.

In Western Australia, the areas where climate change is going to hit hardest are the northern and eastern wheatbelt. If predictions are right, these areas are going to experience more often the crop failures and severe wind erosion experienced in early 2007.

However, Australian agriculture isn’t a faultless victim of global warming. On the contrary, it plays a significant part in the problem. In fact, 16 per cent of global warming emissions are attributable to human activity caused by agriculture.

Therefore the challenge for Western Australian farmers is to simultaneously cope with the onset of climate change while contributing to solutions by reducing or offsetting its own greenhouse gas emissions.

Of concern to me is the climate change policy discussion currently underway in Australia – a discussion which is heavily skewed towards climate modelling, seasonal forecasting and impact analysis.

Not enough work is being planned or done on the more immediate options required by farmers as part of the ongoing adaption and adjustment needed to effectively manage the climate change risk in agriculture.

The balance of the policy discussion should also be questioned. The focus on the big policy issues of emission targets and a national emissions trading scheme is a distraction from the immediate concerns facing Australian agriculture.

While there are legitimate concerns about agriculture facing unintended consequences under emissions reduction policy, there are also unrealistic expectations that agriculture can buy its way out through carbon offsets and credits.

The requirements for tradeable carbon permits will be very stringent and require security of sequestration for decades. This is beyond the resources of most farmers; however, improved farming systems that reduce greenhouse gas emissions can be within their reach.

Already, there are farming systems and new plant technologies being developed that are better adapted to drought and erratic rainfall. In essence, the first steps in making Australian farming systems ready for a drying climate have already been made.

For example, early results from FFI CRC research has shown that new farming systems featuring perennial plant components for grazing, cropping or new wood-production are surprisingly adaptive, which have the ability to survive extended droughts while preventing soil erosion.

Their performance under drought and unusual seasonal conditions suffered in recent years have given us pointers on how to create more productive, environmentally friendly farming systems better suited to drier climates.

The evidence we have gathered so far has shown there is greater year round plant growth, higher production, greater water use, more profit and better natural resource management outcomes. Some of these plants are new to Australian agriculture; others are native, with some containing beneficial nutritional and dietary compounds.

Much of our research into finding new farming systems suited to a drier climate is happening in Western Australia.

A plant that has captured the attention and imagination of our plant breeders is Bituminaria bituminous, a perennial pasture legume originally from the harsh climate of the Canary Islands, it has stayed green all summer and thrived in unseasonal summer rain for the last two years at trial sites in Newdegate and Buntine.

Another promising perennial pasture legume is Cullen, a straggly-looking Australian native plant that has good nutritional value and grows well in the low rainfall areas of the Western Australian wheatbelt.

Western Australian agriculture is particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change. But there is every indication that adaptation can significantly reduce these impacts and those new farming systems can underpin farm adjustment and productivity to further offset the effects.

It is imperative that we act now and invest in innovation, research and development, and engage in collaboration to create adaptive farming systems for mixed cropping and grazing that will give farmers new options to remain productive.

Western Australia already has the capacity to lead the way through the application of good science to make the changes necessary that will prepare Australian agriculture for a drier climate. 

Kevin Goss is CEO of the Cooperative Research Centre for Future Farm Industries (FFI CRC).