Climate Change
Preparing for the challenges and opportunities of a changing climate
Climate change is a major issue for our industry for two reasons.
Firstly, there are the direct impacts of climate change itself, including possible changes to growing conditions (such as moisture stress, disease or pest risk, extreme weather events), and changes to crop phenology, length of the harvest season, water resources, and land suitability.
Secondly, there are the impacts from Australia and other countries moving to low-emission economies, with implications for government policies and for our financial systems.
CANEGROWERS position is that:
- Australia’s climate policies must recognise producers for the role they play in managing Australia’s land, and their contribution to food security. Any policies must provide a pathway for a profitable, productive and sustainable agricultural sector into the future.
- The sugarcane industry needs to understand the on-farm and industry-wide implications of changes to the climate and, where negative impacts are likely, identify ways of mitigating these.
- The industry must be proactive in both demonstrating the relatively low emissions intensity of current farming systems and identifying realistic expectations for further reductions.
- The opportunities for sugarcane to be a significant feedstock for bio-fuels and bio-plastics must be encouraged and viable pathways identified.
The CANEGROWERS policy describes the risks of climate change to growers and the collaboration and assistance we seek from government and research providers to address these. Click here to read the policy.
Key areas of work:
