My Climate View provides farmers insights into future climate based on location and commodity

It’s around this time of year that Australian cherry growers look for cooler days.

This is because cherry trees need to accumulate enough “chill” during winter to flower and grow fruit in the spring.

But projections show that cherry growers along the Murray River in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia may be facing warmer winters in the years to come. This could reduce the volume of cherries that growers can produce for sale.

Winter’s chill is key for other growers too. Did you know oranges need cooler temperatures to get their bright orange color?

Orange growers call it the “color break.” Knowing how many cooler days an orchard is likely to get in the future can help growers to take steps to manage color break in their orchard and to plan future plantings.

These climate insights come from My Climate View, a digital information tool specially developed for farmers.

Using My Climate View, farmers across Australia can explore how the climate variables that matter to their businesses could change in the future. And respond to this by building their climate resilience for decades to come.

Tailored climate insights whether rain, frost or sunshine

We all know farmers rely on rain and sunshine to produce the food we eat and the threads we wear.

But as the cherry and orange examples show, there are many climate-related factors that can impact production. These include periods of low rainfall and risks of frost or sun damage which can affect quality and yield.

In livestock production, farmers have a range of factors to consider ranging from heat stress, as a welfare and productivity issue, to how excessive cold can impact on lamb survivability after birth.

My Climate View provides tailored insights on how these risks are likely to change in the future, which can inform better planning and decision-making.

Informed by farmers for farmers

My Climate View covers 20 commodities from meat and grains to cotton and horticulture. Together the commodities represent 95% of Australia’s farmland. Insights on avocados, cherries and chickpeas are its latest additions.

We’ve engaged more than 2,000 people who work in agriculture around Australia to ensure the insights are relevant and useful.

We developed My Climate View with the Bureau of Meteorology and with funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

And the best thing is it’s free to use—helping farmers plan for future climate change and drought.

The tool, which was developed through the Australian Government’s Climate Services for Agriculture (CSA) program is contributing to the goal of our Drought Resilience Mission to reduce the impacts of Australian droughts this decade.