In Parts 1 & 2 of the Regional Horizons Summit we heard about the threat of climate change, some of the financial implications and the possibilities that renewables and ecosystem service payments bring to agriculture. This webinar helps farmers begin planning practical strategies on their farm to help their farm business not just survive but thrive.
Associate Professor Lauren Rickards, RMIT University, will provide insight into building genuine resilience, while Cam Nicholson, Agronomist, will provide a framework for on farm decision making.
Regional Horizons is Farmers for Climate Action’s economic recovery program which places regional Australia at the forefront.
The Regional Horizons Summit is a three-part series which takes a deep dive into the big issues that underpin the program, and the risks and rewards it presents for Australian farmers.
Part 1: Knowing and Managing Risks
Part 3: Resilience Strategies
Speakers
Associate Professor Lauren Rickards
Lauren Rickards is a co-leader of the Climate Change Transformations research programme of the Centre for Urban Research, RMIT University, and co-director of the Climate Change Exchange to facilitate learning between researchers and practitioners. An interdisciplinary researcher, Lauren is a Lead Author in the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s Sixth Assessment Report and coleader of the Nature, Risk and Resilience group at the Institute of Australian Geographers. She has worked at the agriculture-climate change interface for the last fifteen years, with a focus on resilience and agricultural extension. This includes projects with Birchip Cropping Group and CSIRO, as an Associate Partner at RM Consulting Group and as coordinator of the with the Primary Industries Adaptation Research Network. @LaurenARickards
Cam Nicholson
Cam Nicholson is a partner in Nicon Rural Services, a consulting business near Geelong working with the grazing and cropping industries and in natural resource management. Cam has been involved in many farmer programs for the GRDC, MLA, Dairy Australia, Southern Farming Systems and Landcare. He provides consultancy advice to farmers and lectures on animal and pasture systems at Marcus Oldham College. His most recent work has focussed on understanding and discussing risk in farming businesses and how to enhance decision making.
He and his wife Fiona run a beef and sheep farm on the Bellarine Peninsula turning off cattle for the long fed Japanese market, lambs and wool.
Watch the recording
Summary of Presentations
An overview of Lauren’s presentation:
Resilience is a contentious word thanks to some of the unhelpful ways it has been used, but it is also clearly something we need to cultivate in the face of contemporary challenges. Lauren will draw on social research into real world experiences and resilience principles to provide some insights into what genuine resilience requires, including the pressing need to accelerate knowledge sharing and learning across regions, as FCA is helping facilitate.
An overview of Cam’s presentation:
Just because we make decisions all the time doesn’t mean we are good at making them! Cam will step through what influences a decision, the challenges of weighing up the pros and cons of complex decisions and step through a simple process he uses to help in decision making.
