Climate change systemic adaptation and financial value across the southern Australian livestock industry

The GRAZPLAN biophysical models were used to simulate the dynamics of coupled climate-soilgrassland livestock systems at 25 representative farms across Australias extensive grazing region under historical and a range of projected climates (4 GCMs at 2030, 2050 and 2070 under SRES A2 scenario). The modelling analysis suggests that primary production of grasslands and livestock are likely to decrease across most of southern Australias grazing lands under future climate. By including changes in on-farm management in our models we were able to evaluate the effectiveness of certain adaptation options.