Pair take ideals to Paris

Anika Molesworth, who lives on a sheep station at Broken Hill, and Josh Gilbert, whose family run a Braford stud at Nabiac, crowdfunded their trip to the COP21 talks on climate change.

The pair are motivated by a desire to understand agriculture’s future operating environment, physical and political.

“We’re going as representatives of the next generation of food producers,” said Ms Molesworth.

“We’re speaking with people from around the world in regard to farming systems, how and why they are being adopted, and we’ll then look at how they might be implemented in Australia.”

“In Paris, we want to say that young farmers need to be part of the climate change solution, and are well positioned to be part of the solution. How can we help, how can we get a seat at the decision-making table?”

Before the talks, the pair are visiting farms like Hafod y Llan in Wales, which is part of a project by the National Trust to cut its power bills by installing renewable energy.

In Paris, they will attend the pre-event Conference of Youth as well as key parts of the main talks.

“There will be some great people and great resources that we can draw on for ideas that we can deliver back into mainstream agriculture,” Mr Gilbert said.

Mr Gilbert, whose family own Riverside Park Braford Stud, is a consultant with PwC Indigenous Consulting, and the chair of the NSW Farmers Association Young Farmers Committee.

The Young Farmers committee this year successfully pushed through a motion to amend the Association’s climate change policy away from a skeptical stance toward the science, to recognition of climate change and a managed transition away from fossil fuels.

Ms Molesworth was made the Kondinin Group/ABC 2015 Young Australian Farmer of the Year for her advocacy of sustainable agriculture, which has a focus on climate change.

She has spent most of the past year in Laos studying how impoverished farmers respond to climate change for her Masters degree in Sustainable Agriculture, finished a fortnight ago, at Charles Sturt University.

The pair raised the funds for their trip through crowdfunding. Using the site Start Some Good (http://startsomegood.com/youngfarmers), they raised $5550 from 66 backers who supported their ideals and presence at COP21.

Their special focus is on how farmers in other countries are deploying renewable energy to power their own farms, and to diversify income.

As advocates for action on climate change, the pair are well aware that not everyone supports their activities.

“I’m not naive enough to think that we represent all views,” Ms Molesworth said.

“But there are a lot of people like me who want to work in agriculture, and we have to be well equipped with the skills and knowledge to work in changing environments.”

Mr Gilbert said even if they don’t agree with the premise of human-driven warming, farmers have been adapting to climate change anyway. He believes more are now acknowledging the changes they are experiencing as something longer-term than just climate variability.

Mr Gilbert’s own perspective is very long indeed. He is one of the Worimi people of the Mid-North Coast of NSW.

“Our family has been living from the land for 40,000 years, and we want our descendants to be able to say they have been farming it for 80,000 years. Our story is small, but it keeps us going.”

Ms Molesworth did all her university studies by correspondence from her family’s 4000 ha sheep property, Rupee Station near Broken Hill.

The family bought the station in 2000, at the onset of the Millenium Drought. Those years taught Ms Molesworth how tough farming can be, and sparked her interest in climate change, but she still nurses a desire to have her own farming operation.

“I’m optimistic by nature, and I see that there is so much potential in agriculture,” she said.

Ms Molesworth also runs the Climate Wise Agriculture blog.