Australia: Victoria farmers want pipelines to combat climate change

Record dry weather in the usually wet farming regions of south-west Victoria has forced farmers to queue for water from a community bore, and led to calls for infrastructure that will future-proof the region in relation to climate change.

Two winters with little rain, followed by completely dry springs and summers have left livestock producers in the west Wimmera and southern Grampians with record low levels of water storage, Tim Leeming, a farmer and regional chair of the Southern Australia Meat Research Council told Guardian Australia.

The region has the highest concentration of red meat production in the country, and produces 40% of Australia’s lamb, Leeming said.

“If there is a mild winter and another failed spring this year, there will be hell to pay. It will be mega serious,” he said. “Producers will be forced into another agricultural enterprise like cropping – and that’s out of their skill set and not really supported by the landscape.

“You hesitate to mention climate change but we all know that in the last decade we’ve experienced the latest-breaking season in 40 years, we’ve experienced the wettest season in 65 years and two failed springs in a row – that has never occurred before.”

Read more at The Guardian