{"id":785918,"date":"2026-07-08T01:13:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:13:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785918\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:13:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:13:14","slug":"drought-battered-farmers-still-irked-by-net-zero-push-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/785918\/","title":{"rendered":"Drought-battered farmers still ‘irked’ by net-zero push – News"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new survey of more than 1000 South Australian grain producers found 79 per cent of respondents did not support the state government\u2019s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Just eight per cent were in favour, with 13 per cent unsure, according to Grain Producers SA\u2019s 2025 Annual Grain Producer Survey Insight Report.<\/p>\n

The report was conducted between December 2025 and March 2026 and surveyed 1046 respondents \u2013 a \u201crecord number\u201d according to GPSA.<\/p>\n

It found farmers remained generally optimistic about the future, but there was still \u201cenormous strain\u201d on farm budgets in 2025, GPSA CEO Brad Perry said.<\/p>\n

The year was punctuated by drought<\/a>, with \u2018climate stress\/drought\u2019 listed as the number one challenge reported by growers.<\/p>\n

The survey found 72 per cent of growers were affected by drought in 2025, and 95 per cent of those affected experienced financial impact from drought, while 85 per cent said the drought affected yield reductions.<\/p>\n

But 42 per cent of respondents said their farming operations were not being impacted by climate change, in contrast to 33 per cent saying climate change was having an effect and 25 per cent were \u201cunsure\u201d.<\/p>\n

And just eight per cent of respondents were supportive of the state government\u2019s goal of reaching net zero emissions by 2050 in a bid to tackle climate change \u2013 the survey showed 79 per cent were not supportive.<\/p>\n

Farmers said they were concerned that the goal would impose financial and red tape burdens on businesses, and that they were an \u201ceasy target\u201d.<\/p>\n

Perry said respondents were reluctant to go \u201call guns blazing on net zero emissions just for the sake of ticking a box\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to make sure that if we are reducing emissions, that it\u2019s actually viable for grain producers to continue farming,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s the acceleration of trying to reach a particular target that irks grain producers, because just trying to tick off a number can have huge ramifications for the realities on a farm and when it comes to drought years everyone\u2019s just really trying to survive.<\/p>\n

“Meeting net zero emissions is certainly not at the top of your mind when you\u2019re trying to survive.”<\/p>\n

And 80 per cent of grain producers were experiencing mental health and wellbeing impacts due to drought \u2013 14 per cent indicating a \u201csignificant\u201d impact to their health and wellbeing.<\/p>\n

Perry said there were some \u201cheartbreaking\u201d responses to the survey, \u201cwhether it\u2019s farmers having to choose whether they put a crop in or not and whether they can get enough money to put food on the table for their families\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cMental health and wellbeing is something that we\u2019re focusing on and trying to address as best we can.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe flow-on effects of drought are huge, right along the supply chain and into the social aspects of life. That\u2019s something that we need to keep talking about.\u201d<\/p>\n

But farmers were generally optimistic about the future \u2013 almost 50 per cent saying they were \u2018positive\u2019 or \u2018very positive\u2019, though this was lower than 2024\u2019s result when 63 per cent indicated a positive sentiment.<\/p>\n

\u201cConfidence remains fairly steady for the longer term,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGiven there\u2019s been so many challenges, whether it\u2019s weather-related, whether it\u2019s cost-related, it really shows that farmers are adapting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recent drought-breaking rainfall was \u201cfantastic to see\u201d, Perry said, \u201cwe\u2019ve got green everywhere, which does certainly raise spirits\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we also know that it\u2019s been a very expensive crop to put in.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the survey taking a rearview look at 2025, it did not contemplate the current pressures on the industry like the impact of the Iran conflict prompting skyrocketing fertiliser and fuel prices.<\/a><\/p>\n

But the survey did show fertiliser was the highest cost for 46.9 per cent of farmers, followed by chemicals (26.8 per cent), machinery (9.2 per cent) and fuel (6.7 per cent).<\/p>\n

\u201cOur annual survey showed that fertiliser was already the highest cost on farm, and then suddenly you have the impacts of this big war that shoots prices up even further,\u201d Perry said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can imagine farmers are already stressed about those input costs and suddenly that\u2019s gone right through the roof and impacting potentially any profit they might make.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are really operating in a tight margin space at the moment, where cash flow is limited after drought.\u201d<\/p>\n

Environment Minister Emily Bourke has been contacted for comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A new survey of more than 1000 South Australian grain producers found 79 per cent of respondents did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785919,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,75,128],"class_list":["post-785918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-environment","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=785918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785918\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}