‘Supply chain collapse’: Floods show flaws in climate planning

Truck drivers are driving thousands of extra kilometres to avoid damaged roads, exposing a gap in the potential future of the supply chain.

Trucks on the flooded Pacific Highway ground to a halt this week just days after findings from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned extreme climate conditions would prove challenging for food supply chains.

Farmers for Climate Action chief executive Dr Fiona Davis, who launched a report today into the impacts of climate on Australia’s food systems, said climate change was already having an impact.

“Food production on farm and actually getting that food into the supermarkets and onto Australian dining tables is becoming more and more difficult,” Dr Davis said.

In Victoria, climate modelling shows some regions can expect temperature increases of 2C or more by 2050, and median rainfall could decrease in some areas by up to 15 per cent if high emissions continue – leading to reduced crop yields, increased stress on animals and higher costs for farmers.

“We’re often quite good at getting around one issue, but if you’ve got more than one issue, it becomes very difficult,” Dr Davis said.

Pinata Farms managing director Gavin Scurr, who grows berries, mangoes and pineapples on farms across the NT, Queensland and Tasmania, said, as a farmer, he was resigned to living alongside climate extremes, but events like this week’s flooding meant a big hit to his business.

Mr Scurr would have lost significant stock if his truck drivers hadn’t been willing to drive thousands of extra kilometres around blocked roads to get his fruit to market, he said.

“We’ve got a perishable product. Particularly in the case of berries, where they’ve got about a week’s shelf life, it’s no good sitting on the road waiting for three days for the water to go down,” Mr Scurr said.

Piñata Farms managing director Gavin Scurr says investment in drainage infrastructure has helped his farm tolerate intense rain events. Picture: Supplied

He said an investment decision he had made early on in his business – to build contour drains to guide excess water out of his pineapple fields – had saved one of his crops on the Sunshine Coast from flooding when it was pelted with 1105mm of rain in four days over the last week.

But he said others in the region hadn’t been so lucky, and more farmers now were looking for new ways to protect their crops against extreme weather.

Agriculture Minister David Littleproud said the Australian government had “already taken action for farmers and those in the regions to become more resilient to the changing climate”.