Farmers for Climate Action
Farmers for Climate Action (FCA) started in 2015 with a meeting of 30 farmers in the Blue Mountains, NSW, who had spent decades voicing their concerns about climate change to no avail. Today. they have more than 8,000 farmer members as well as more than 45,000 supporters and are one of the most influential climate groups in Australia. Not only are they growing the number of farmers who are leading on climate-smart farming solutions, they’re ideally positioned to influence governments to implement strong economy-wide climate policy.
Farmers for Climate Action is a 2023 Groundswell Grant winner. In this interview we speak to CEO Natalie Collard.
What makes Farmers for Climate Action a unique voice in the climate movement?
Farmers are trusted and respected voices in the climate conversation because we are on the frontlines of a changing climate. Our livelihoods and communities are already being significantly impacted by increasingly extreme weather driven by climate change, with floods, drought and fires hurting farmers directly, impacting supply chains and driving up insurance costs. This makes farming harder and more uncertain, which has an impact on every single Australian.
We are the only farmer-led organisation that focuses on climate action and we work across the political spectrum to bring about multi-partisan political support for strong climate policy. No matter who’s in government, our focus is on ensuring that farmers have a voice in the decisions that affect them and in our experience collaborative and honest conversations with all sides of politics is the most effective way to do this.
Our goal is to show that strong climate policies bring big opportunities for productivity, profitability and sustainability to Australian agriculture, and that farmers should be supported to take up these opportunities.
In less than a decade FCA have grown from a small grassroots farming organisation to a nation-wide community with tens of thousands of supporters. What does this tell us about how farming is evolving as the climate crisis intensifies?
There’s a major shift in the age-old cultural divide between city and country. Often unfairly amplified, it is increasingly invalid. In her valedictory speech to the National Press Club during the National Farmers Federation Conference in October, outgoing President Fiona Simson publicly acknowledged the importance of reacting to change and that successful farmers could not be conservative in the true sense of the word as to thrive they needed to embrace change and embrace new ideas. Farmers for Climate Action has a shared belief in continuing to ensure that farmer’s voices are heard within the national dialogue.
As Ms Simson stated, these perspectives are informed by a daily connection to nature and its forces, with fortunes dictated by these realities. It’s fair to say that these comments, coupled with an acknowledgment that the climate is changing and that farmers need to change with it, was a watershed moment in Australian agriculture.
One of the greatest challenges we will face as the country transitions to renewable energy is not only the physical impacts on rural landscapes, but also maintaining a balanced cultural conversation around equity, access and, ultimately, the opportunity that these changes will present.
Farmers for Climate Action member Ellen Litchfield on a farm in South Australia
What are some of your wins this year?
We’ve had a big 2023! Some of the things we’re most proud of are launching our national plan for climate change and agriculture, ‘Farming Forever’, with the Agriculture Minister Murray Watt speaking at our online launch event. We also took 20 Climate Smart Farming Scholars to Canberra, sharing their stories and deep knowledge with MPs across the political spectrum
We reached a huge milestone, ticking over 8,000 farmer members. To support this network we delivered a full day 'Climate Essentials' course to 120+ farmers and agriculture industry colleagues with the Australian National University. We also held an online event ahead of the El Nino declaration, with speakers from the BOM and industry groups talking about what’s ahead and how farmers can prepare.
What are you focusing on now?
Right now, there are a lot of conversations happening about ensuring farmers and communities benefit from energy developments and infrastructure rollouts. We recently released a report that published invaluable insights from more than 300 farmers across Australia, going deep into issues of electrification on farms and the opportunities and challenges that come with the crucial roll out of large scale renewable energy and transmission infrastructure.
These insights were shared with key decision makers across the Federal Government during two Canberra visits made by our CEO and Chair and helped inform a variety of submissions we made to senate inquiries about residential electrification, transmission building, underground infrastructures for renewable energy, and best community engagement practices.
We've also been working directly with the Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner Andrew Dyer, organising farm visits during his consultation and he has accepted our invitation to deliver a webinar for our farmers on his findings in early 2024.
We’re now actively engaged with the federal government’s process of developing an agriculture and land sector decarbonisation plan. We’re currently conducting a major survey with our base and will deliver the results to the Federal Agriculture Minister before the consultation closes. That’s a big and exciting national conversation that we’re right in the thick of and we’ll continue to feed farmers’ voices into the federal policy development process.
Farmers for Climate Action member Georgia Beattie on a mushroom farm in Victoria