ARARAT - With the livelihoods of the region's farmers so reliant upon the vagaries of the weather, the AgFutures Climate Seminar was seen by organisers as `essential' for people on the land.
The breakfast seminar, held at Nectar Ambrosia, was aimed at helping farmers make sense of weather and climactic changes, illustrating how these changes could impact upon their businesses in the future.
''It's about arming producers with the tools and knowledge to make more informed decisions,'' said Ararat Rural City Council rural business officer Ann Maree Browne.
The Council ran the seminar in conjunction with the Department of Primary Industries.
Over 60 people attended, keen to get the latest update on climate matters, including factors that influence weather in south eastern Australia; La Nina and El Nino; climate trends for Ararat; three month rainfall projections for Ararat and farm adaptation options.
The forum featured a number of guest speakers.
Robyn Duell, climatologist with the Bureau of Meteorology's National Climate Centre, discussed the latest seasonal outlook in order to provide farmers with an indication of the rainfall and temperature trends predicted for the coming winter season.
Her colleague Shoni Maguire, leading climatologist with the BOM, provided an update on climate changes for Victoria.
He looked at ways to understand climate models, how climate change affects Ararat and described some BOM products and services that may provide assistance to farmers.
Mr Maguire is currently involved in work on climate extremes in Australia.
Senior BOM climatologist, Dr Andrew Watkins, says Australia is `punching above its weight' in terms of climate forecasting.
His work on climate change involves studying the background, trends and future scenarios, which he related to the region.
The final speaker, Chris Sounness from the Department of Primary Industries, discussed farm adaptation options in relation to climate trends.
During his presentation he asked farmers five key questions, providing ten answers that offered options for change.
Organisers received a lot of positive feedback from attendees, who found the seminar very informative.
They were asked to take a number of messages away from the seminar, including be optimistic about the future, become better informed about problems, solutions and emerging business opportunities and start thinking about what some of these changes will mean to your business and what you can do about them.
With farming and structural adjustment in the area moving quite rapidly in regard to cropping, Victoria's Department of Primary Industry feels it is important to understand this change as well as the impact of drought and fire on the region.
Twelve agriculturally based communities will benefit yearly from the AgFutures program over the next four years.
AgFutures is funded under the Future Farming Strategy.
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