CLIMATE change will hit agricultural production in Australia harder than just about anywhere else on earth, according to the nation's top farming forecaster.
Australia is one of the world's biggest exporters of wheat, beef, sugar and dairy, but exports are set to be slashed as Australian production of these commodities declines by 9 to 10 per cent by 2030 and 13 to 19 per cent by 2050.
Global demand for Australia's key agricultural commodities is growing fast, but in the next half century it is forecast that wheat exports will be down 15 per cent, beef 33 per cent, dairy 27 per cent and sugar 79 per cent.
A report released yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics shows that only India and the world's least developed nations will lose more food production because of climate change.
Much of Australia's best farmland is forecast to get hotter and drier. There will be more floods and droughts.