Front line: farmers facing an uphill climate battle

A report by the Australian National University, which modelled the worst-case scenario, said by 2050 the northern and western region of NSW would be an average of 4.5 degrees hotter.

Breeza farmer Andrew Pursehouse doubted the long-term viability of agriculture in such hot conditions.

"I don't think we'd survive," he said.

"All our summer crops wouldn't be able to handle it - our winter crops too, for that matter.

"Corn for instance needs a minimum temperature at night of 25 degrees for respiration. If it doesn't get that, there are quite serious implications to yield.

"Sorghum also needs to recover at night. You can have hot days, but you must have cool nights for the respiration process to happen."

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Gunnedah agronomist Amy McAlister said an increased average temperature would have all sorts of implications for croppers.

"Cotton goes in to heat shock when the temperature goes over 35 degrees - the plant basically shuts down to cool itself," she said.

"It stresses the plant. Any type of stress has the potential to lose yield.

"The pollination of sorghum is not viable when it's too hot.

"You've also got to be careful of soil temperature. If it's too hot, it can cook the seed."

The ANU study said the dramatic rise in temperature could "be avoided with sharp cuts to climate pollution". 

Boggabri farmer James Barlow said the bigger picture was being overlooked by the nation's leaders.

"In the last 10 years, we've already seen the average temperature get consistently higher," he said.

"We need a line in the sand now, because the pressure is already on agriculture. If the temperature rises by half a degree, it'll get even harder - 4.5 sounds catastrophic."

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