Potential Impacts of Climate Change on Australian Agriculture Report 2022

Potential impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture 1
Potential impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture.
Introduction
Around the globe agricultural sector plays an important factor in sustaining of
economies. Australia is not an exception to the fact that the agricultural section plays to its
economy. Climate change is affecting the agricultural productions in different ways. The effect is
estimated to be felt in medium and long term periods. Declines in agricultural productions and
the economic activities associated with the agricultural sector are likely to suffer a big blow
around the globe and also in Australia. Murray-Darling Basin and South Western Australia are
the major agricultural production regions in Australia (In Philander, 2012)). According to studies
by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), these two regions are likely to be
high by significant climate change effects. According to estimations, in 2030, the agricultural
production is Australia is likely to decline by around 10% and with around 19% in 2050.
Australia relies a lot on the agricultural production and export. These changes will adversely
affect the Australian economy. All these changes are being brought about by the eminent
changes in climate change. The agricultural yields in Southern Australia are currently in decline
due to the high frequency of droughts. In addition, increase in temperatures and extreme heats
which are being experienced are likely to stress the livestock and therefore lead to their reduced
productivity. Tree mortality due to decline productivity is likely to affect the rainfall patterns and
lead to reduced rainfall (Hillel, & Rosenzweig, 2013). The changes in temperatures in Australia
were reported first ibn 2013. In 2014, the Bureau of Meteorology in Australia released a report
which indicated that the temperature increase, frequent bush fires, drought and floods were all
related to the climate change in the region. The department has reported that a temperature
increase of 1oC has been experienced in Australia per year. All these changes have had a great

Potential impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture 2
impact on the agricultural sector and more impacts are expected in future. Sever impact on the
sector are expected by the year 2050.
Evidence on climate change
The rainfall decrease is one of the major evidence that climate change is hitting Australia.
The southwestern Australia is one of the core agricultural region in the country. The area has
been hit by high decrease of the rainfall. About 10 to 20% decrease of rainfall since 1970s has
been experienced. On the southeastern region, a moderate decline of the amount of rainfall has
also been experienced (Hetherington, 2012). This shows that the climate change is not localized
in one region and affecting each region. In addition, change in rainfall patterns are also another
proof of the climate change. Rainfall seasons has become heavier and infrequent and more
summer seasons are being experienced that the winter ones. Depletion of the water sources and
increased droughts are clear indicator that things are not the same anymore. Since 1910, the
temperatures in Australia have risen drastically and the regions are warmer nights are being
experienced than before (In Kumar, In Singh, In Jhajharia, & In Mirabbasi, 2019). All these
indicators are clear that the climate change effects are here. The effects have been transferred to
the likes of the agricultural sectors. These sectors have experienced the impact of the changes
happening.

Potential impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture 3
Figure 1: Annual Average temperature projections in Australia
One of the major impact which is expected due to climate change is the effect on the
precipitation patterns. Nevertheless, the future prediction of the levels is hard to guess although
one things for sure is that adverse effects are expected. With expected great variation on rainfall
levels, there is a high likelihood adverse weather patterns are expected in future. So far, Australia
has been able to experience extreme droughts and floods which are all related to the climate
changes (In Kimble, 2019). Decrease on rainfall has been experienced in Southern Australia and
this has affected the farming activities. According to current researches, South-Western Australia
and the Murray-Darling Basin are expected to experienced precipitation declines of up to 33 per
cent and 27 per cent respectively. These declines are also expected on other critical parts of
Australia as well. These impacts are likely to have a great impact on the agricultural sector.
Combined with other impacts, the production rates and production seasons are likely to be
affected. The decline on the rainfall intensity means that the production seasons are declining as
well and the agricultural basket will become less. The decline on the rainfall is highly affecting
the core agricultural sectors in Australia and this means that less production will be experienced.

Potential impacts of climate change on Australian agriculture 4
The production rates are highly related with the rainfall intensities and any decrease means that
the natural production is also going down. According to projections, the productions rate will be
adversity hit by the year 2050.
Another clear impact of the changes in the climate is the increase of the temperature
levels. The IPCC predicts that an increase in both land and sea temperatures in Australia is likely
to be experienced due to climate change. Currently, Australia is estimated to experience and
increase of 1oC per year of the temperatures due to climate change. Nevertheless, if control on
climate change is not taken serious, the scientists estimate that the rate of temperature increase
will get worse in the next 50 years to come (Schwartz, 2019). Any increase in temperatures leads
to an increase in transpiration and evaporation rates. The impact of this is that the irrigate plants
and agricultural sectors will need more water for them to be sustained. Considering the reduction
of the precipitation rates, water is likely to become a scarce commodity. Water demand will rise
and the pressure on farmers will increase. This means that the irrigation sector will have to suffer
and the farmers will have to scale down in order to properly utilize the available water resources
without straining them. The levels of agricultural productions will therefore go down with such
measures being taken. The farmers will irrigate less fields and this means that the whole
production lands will producer lesser that they are currently doing (Cho, Ahmad, Lee, Choi,
Nam, & Kwon, 2019). The agricultural economy will be hit by shortage and with the increase on
demand, and less production, the access of the commodity will be scarce. This effect will largely
be attributed to the climatic changes. Dry basins, less water and less irrigation fields will
translate to less agricultural productions.