The economics of adaption to climate change by broadacre farmers in Western Australia

[Truncated abstract] Scientists have pointed out that climate change is unavoidable, to some extent. Although there is uncertainty about the nature and extent of climate change it is also acknowledged that agriculture is among the most vulnerable sectors to the risks and impacts of climate change. As a result, farmers need flexible and resilient agricultural systems to cope with a range of possible changes to climate. Adaptation is expected to reduce the negative impacts of climate change while taking advantage of opportunities that it creates. Agriculture is one of the most studied sectors with respect to the impacts of climate change and agriculture's adaptation to climate change is an emerging topic of research. Many potential adaptation options have been identified. However, there are as yet relatively few studies that assess the likely effectiveness, economic performance, and adoption rates of alternate adaptation response strategies. A key knowledge gap in the literature is, therefore, the lack of an in-depth, region-specific assessment of the likely impacts of climate change and climate change adaptation strategies on agricultural production and profitability. The Australian Government has adopted policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The core of the policy is a carbon pricing scheme – an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) with a fixed initial price of $23 per tonne of CO2-e linked to the EU ETS in 2015/2016. Emissions from Australian agriculture are not part of the scheme. However, in the future, the sector may be covered.