Climate change events prompt local action in farming communities

So much so that Mr Shovelton has changed the way his operation is run to adapt to the changing weather patterns in his region.

"We've effectively lost about a month of the growing season, which then impacts our capacity," he said.

"So what we've done is maintain and try to hold our soil fertility at a high level, giving us a better ability to respond to rain.

"The other thing we've done is change our time of lambing to an earlier time so that we're not caught by springs that finish early."

Mr Shovelton said a lot of other work went into his farm's adaption to climate change, including securing water supply by making sure that he had a much more reticulated system around the farm.

He also looks to place stock off the paddocks to protect the pasture if there is not much feed on the ground.

He is also concerned about the risk of flooding, as seen in the last few weeks in Queensland and NSW, but notes that his own region has seen reduced annual rainfall totals in the last few years.

He believed there was misunderstanding out there about how carbon credits worked.

"This idea that farmers are going to make money out of soil carbon I think is pretty fraught, and most farmers that I speak to think if they get carbon credits and they sell them that they're still going to be carbon neutral - they're not," he said.

"The people who buy them are, and if they sell them overseas, it really doesn't help Australia.

"I think if farmers are not aware of that, they still maintain the risk."

And Mr Shovelton's way of thinking is becoming more and more common.

Third-generation cropping farmer Peter Holding, Harden, NSW, recently visited several Goulburn Valley regions speaking about how farmers can adapt to the changing climate.

Mr Holding said many farmers he spoke to in his role as a community outreach officer for Farmers for Climate Action said they understood what risks were out there.

He said farming communities should be inter-connected.

"We know when communities suffer floods or bushfires, what can happen is that the community can become fractured, as people experience disasters differently at times," he said.

"Those with strong community links who are thinking the same way in regards to climate change can swap information about how they are adapting and talk about things like how they are changing their cropping or production systems for local industries."

But he said significant action was still required from those within company and government structures.

"We think there needs to be large emission reductions across the economy in the main and if that doesn't happen, farmers will be exposed to all sorts of problems," he said.

A recently-released report has confirmed action at that level was needed, and said more flood events would come to many regional communities if no investment in mitigation was forthcoming.

The report - conducted by Newcastle-based Climate Valuation that provides investment-grade physical climate risk analysis to property owners - identified 30 local government areas (LGAs) with a combined one million properties were exposed to riverine flooding.

Climate Valuation chief executive Karl Mallan said those who lived in high flood risk regions should be very concerned about the potential impacts an increased risk of floods could have on their properties.

"The impacts we are seeing now are the result of just over one degree of global average warming and riverine flooding in these areas is likely to worsen as global warming increases on track for three or four degrees warming," Dr Mallan said.

In regional Victoria, the LGAs of Shepparton, Wangaratta, Mildura, and Horsham have been identified as high risk.

The Shepperton LGA is one of the highest at-risk regions, with 77 per cent of properties having some exposure to riverine flooding, equating to around 29,000 out of 37,000 properties.

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A bit further north in Wangaratta, 67pc of properties were found to have any risk from riverine flooding, while in Horsham, 47pc of properties were at risk.

"The risk is already considerable in these areas, with properties we identify as 'high risk' facing the prospect of unavailable or unaffordable insurance against riverine flooding," Dr Mallan said.

"The impacts we are seeing now are the result of just over 1 degree of global average warming and riverine flooding in these areas is likely to worsen as global warming increases on track for 3 or 4 degrees warming."

Dr Mallan said the analysis focuses on physical assets like buildings and infrastructure, but floods can severely impact farming properties in other ways.

"Farming properties face additional potential compounded risk from riverine flooding such as soil loss, stock loss and fencing damage, as well as isolation from supply chains like power and telecommunications," Dr Mallan said.

He also said properties deemed at high risk were those for which insurance could become unaffordable or unavailable and has implications for property owners, lenders and whole communities, which require clear climate-related policy responses and adaptation planning.

"Rural and regional areas are more exposed for several reasons," Dr Mallan said

"Firstly, they are less likely to benefit from protective measures, live flood levies and better drainage due to low-density populations and a lower rates base.

"Secondly the insurance market is less competitive and lucrative, so some insurers may choose not to offer policies leaving rural people with less options."