Story
Southern Gippsland farmers plan for climate change
Published 28 November 2023 28 November 2023
Southern Gippsland is getting warmer and drier – a climate trend that's likely to continue.
This climate trend will result in less rainfall, but also frequent and intense heavy downpours. There will be more days of extreme heat and harsher fire weather. For the future viability of our natural agricultural resources, Southern Gippsland farmers will need to innovate their practices and explore diverse ways of managing their farms for our future food security.
Growing Southern Gippsland is a web portal that provides farmers with simplified risk-based decision support tools. The portal combines local farmer case studies with up-to-date and regionally specific technical information and predictions. These are designed to increase climate change knowledge and awareness in Southern Gippsland agriculture.
Beef cattle enjoying the benefits of grazing on a multi species pasture, one of the many actions available to farmers who are developing their own Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP)
Image credit - Bass Coast Landcare Network
It also identifies many innovators from across the Gippsland region from whom we can learn - Champions of Change.
The champions have explored new ways of farming, looked to the past for inspiration, reviewed practices across their whole enterprise and planned for a changing climate.
Supporting the Growing Southern Gippsland web portal is a self-guided, linear decision support tool called the Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP).
The CAP enables farmers to:
-
identify climate impacts
-
assess risks
-
develop an adaptation and mitigation action plan for their individual properties.
The CAP allows for customisation and adoption in other regions and emphasises that the:
-
Southern Gippsland Climate is changing and there are current and future agricultural impacts because of this
-
early adopters are actively planning and managing for a future climate
-
broader landowner understanding and on ground transition by landowners is still slow and needs to become mainstream within the agricultural sector
-
Growing Southern Gippsland and the Climate Adaptation Plan can assist in the gradual adoption of new planning and on ground practice.
The Climate Adaptation Plan (CAP) includes 47 single climate change impacts and provides 109 unique adaptation and mitigation actions.
The Growing Southern Gippsland project was originally funded through the Victorian Centre for Climate Change Innovation in 2018. Key partners included:
-
Bass Coast Landcare Network
-
RMIT University
-
Federation University Australia
-
Federation University Australia- Centre for E-Research and Digital Innovation (CERDI)
-
Bass Coast Shire Council
-
South Gippsland Landcare Network.
“I would definitely recommend this CAP. It helps you to step back and view your farm from a different angle. It promotes thought regarding different climate challenges that are sometimes overlooked in the day to day running of a farm.”
Participant feedback from CAP workshop - June 2022
“I look forward to exploring the resources provided through CAP and Growing southern Gippsland”. (Participant feedback from CAP workshop in June 2022).
The Growing Southern Gippsland portal also provides monitoring support tools, multimedia support material and a centralised ‘discovering resources’ page. This page can be used by the agricultural sector to help with climate change planning and adaptation.
Explore more about the CAPs and the Champions of Change.