On the Frontlines of Change: A discursive approach to understanding real and envisioned climate adaptation pathways of drought-affected primary producers in NSW

Abstract

The most severe drought on record continues to devastate rural communities and primary producers across most of South-Eastern Australia; signalling current adaptive responses are failing to keep up with the rate of change in climatic conditions. As the first line of resistance or participation in new climate adaptation and mitigation policies, primary producers on small-scale farms can be considered consequential actors in driving transformational change. Despite the dire implications of inaction for Australia’s agricultural industries, there is a paucity of research into the socio-political dimensions underlying decision-making in climate adaptation planning at the farm-level. Noting that the livestock industry is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, a significant contributor to Australia’s share of releasing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and possesses the potential to transform vast landscapes into a great ‘carbon sink’, this research endeavours to provide a more in-depth understanding of the discourses that influence responses to climate change at the farm-level in one of Australia’s defining industries. In-depth guided interviews with 16 graziers across drought-afflicted areas of North-Western New South Wales constitute the scope of this research. A discursive analysis of interview data provided insights into the limitations of current hegemonic discourses and mainstream agricultural adaptation and mitigation strategies. Nonetheless, interview data enabled identification of sites of resistance; where alternative discourses and novel framing practices can be seen as opportunities for facilitating transformative change within the livestock industry and agricultural sector more broadly.