Anika Molesworth | Young farmers have a front-row seat to the climate crisis. They are taking action

My family purchased a sheep farm in far-west NSW in the year 2000 and, for my 12-year-old self, it was love at first sight. I was caught in the magic of the endless horizon landscape, the horses in the paddock, the canoes on the dam, and with this place I now called home.

Then the millennium drought hit.

And I experienced first-hand the country turning dry, the monster dust storms that turned day to night, and the crippling heatwaves.

It was a front-row seat to the climate crisis and a future norm if we don't act on climate change and reduce society's emissions.

My family's sheep farm, this incredible place I fell in love with as a child, is projected to become hotter and drier, with more frequent and intense dust-storms due to human-induced climate change. High temperatures stress our livestock, reduce fertility, and increase mortality.

Pasture for them to eat and water for them to drink disappears during drought, as does the ancient trees and precious wildlife that make this place such a wonder.

The viability of our family farming operation - and my future growing food in this place - is precarious. In rural areas around the world, the hurdles facing the next generation of food producers are great. There's no denying it.

The changing climate is front of mind as young people make important decisions about whether to take up a life on the land. It is there when young farmers look back at past rainfall and temperature records and ask whether these are still good indicators for the years ahead.

It is there as we see pests and diseases move south, and as we observe changes in native animal and plant prevalence. It is there when we're faced with droughts, floods and forest fires and the question emerges - what will my life hold as a farmer in a climate-challenged world?

If we fail to act on human-induced climate change, we neglect the rights and wellbeing of the next generation. Because the destruction of the environment is a fundamental breach of the principle of intergenerational equity, and will cause significant adverse flow-on effects to all future people. These are issues that concern everyone who eats food.

Like so many young farmers I know, I refuse to be handed a world irreparably damaged, where food is more difficult to be grown and more people go hungry.

I refuse to let my home, my farm, my rural community, be jeopardised and suffer from negligence, apathy and greed.

Because like the young farmers I work alongside of, I know it doesn't have to be this way.

And when I look around Australia and across the world, I am full of hope, because I see rural youth taking action. They are speaking out, stepping up, working with peers and policy makers, planting trees and campaigning for change.

They understand that decisive action today is needed to help moderate the worst impacts of climate change and ensure we can continue to produce healthy and tasty food.

And I firmly believe young people in rural areas are not just part of the solution, they are central to it.

Climate action for me is local, personal and urgent.

It means listening to the science and making significant reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

This includes emissions from the farming system, but also all other sectors of society.

It demands making the rapid transition away from coal, oil and gas, and investing in an energy system powered by clean renewables and backed by its storage.

These investments have the potential to power our communities and industry and create hundreds of thousands of jobs in rural and regional areas across Australia.

These jobs of the future will provide the opportunity for a future to young rural people, and ensure vibrant food producing communities for the long term.

I know acting on climate change can sometimes feel complex and daunting, but actually there are so many things we can all do, right where we are and with what we have.

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Daily decisions around transport (communal, bike, EVs), clothing (buy less, buy better), energy (go electric and renewable) and gadgets (repair and recycle) are all important and add up.

And the choices we make on food influence the farming systems and their ability to adapt and prevent climate disruptions.

When we choose to eat delicious local, seasonal, nutrient-dense and native foods, we support a better food system.

When we choose to eat a plant-dominant diet and avoid foods wrapped in plastic and Styrofoam and that have been flown in from the other side of the world, we support a better food system.

When we pay a fair price for food we give farmers the financial resources to adapt to changing climatic conditions and find ways to reduce on-farm emissions.

When we avoid wasting food and sending it to landfill, we prevent unwanted greenhouse gases filling our skies.

We are creating the food and farming systems of the future today. So the next time you sit down for a meal, think about what you want that future to taste like.