As Australian farmers know, extreme weather is part of living on the land. Dr Margaret Moreton says our focus must go beyond identifying risk to increasing the resilience of people and communities.

Australia must prioritise the education and up-skilling of future leaders in our primary industries to effectively meet the growing demand for food and fibre.

Opportunities are emerging that will allow producers to build enterprise resilience through new climate risk transfer (insurance) products and income diversification (carbon and biodiversity credit) schemes. There is significant potential for these to help to smooth the year-to-year income variability linked to climate-related risk and to lead to both healthier agricultural landscapes and a more resilient and sustainable agricultural sector.

Amid debate surrounding the live sheep export industry, Grain Producers Australia questions the veracity of ‘social licence’ concerns.

Succession planning on family farms is an essential part of a successful business, but in Australia it is an underappreciated and often messy matter. Founder of Fledgling Farmers and 2018 ABC Trailblazer Alana Black writes about her personal experiences with succession planning and how communication is key.

Prof. Victor Sadras is a world authority on crop ecophysiology with an interest in the adaptation of crops to environmental stresses, including water deficit, extreme temperatures, nutrient deficit, soil physical and chemical constraints, pathogens and insects. He leads the team of Crop Ecophysiology at the South Australian Research & Development Institute (SARDI). Prof Sadras has distilled the background, objectives and findings in his co-authored paper Making Science More Effective for Agriculture published in the international journal “Advances in Agronomy”, Volume 163, 2020.

Mental health issues in farmers are a rising concern, especially in the face of predicted increases in droughts and hotter conditions. We need to get better in dealing with and treating mental health conditions in rural communities.