Jeff Burch roars with laughter when asked if he's turning into a greenie.

"I don't know if I'd go that far!"

But it's a fair question to pose to the winemaker.

He has just spent hours outlining the environmental changes he is introducing at his Margaret River vineyard in Western Australia.

To name a couple — a long, dark green cloth is attached to rows of grapes to block out extreme sun and compost and hay is spread under vines to retain moisture.

And the creme de la creme? A special "sunscreen" that is sprayed onto precious grapes.

"A bit like your face, when your face gets sunburnt it gets harsh, it gets a little bit stiff," Mr Burch said.

"It's crucial to protect the grapes, so we give them a sunscreen so that the skins don't dry up and crack."

The clay-based material is mixed with water and sprayed onto the grapes — it washes off once harvest rolls around.

"The skins are crucial for tannins and for colour, so we need to have soft skins."

"Sunscreen" is sprayed onto grapes to protect them from the heat. ( ABC News: Caitlyn Gribbin )

To Mr Burch, this is how you need to approach modern farming to respond to climate change.

"I'm not a science specialist on weather, I just know the facts are that we're getting less rainfall, we're getting more different weather patterns," he said.

Australian politics is again arguing about the issue, but Mr Burch reckons the naysayers "might have to get real".

"There's no doubt in our mind that climate change is going to happen," he said.

Mr Burch has built dams in a fashion the Greens eschew and the Nationals support. But those storages aren't filling up at the pace they used to.

Annual rainfall at his Margaret River winery is down 20 per cent. Further south at Mt Barker, it's more than halved.

Records show it's also getting hotter, which is where a brand new vineyard comes into play.

Mr Burch has made the big move of relocating his top chardonnay to a property further south, for a cool $3 million.

"We know it's cooler there … the temperatures are lower," he said.

"So we're positioning ourselves that in 10 or 15 or 20 years time we'll still be able to make a high-quality chardonnay."

Jeff Burch shows off his "sunscreen" mixture. ( ABC News: Caitlyn Gribbin )

'Definitely not normal'

Mr Burch is not alone in his desire to take action on climate change.

In fact, 79 per cent of Australians think Australia has a responsibility to take action on climate change, even if the biggest emitting countries don't follow suit, the Australia Talks National Survey found.

The prevailing attitude among Australians (60 per cent agree) is that "climate change is a serious problem and immediate action is necessary".

A further 20 per cent think climate change is a problem but Australia won't do anything about it.

North Queensland farmer Deb McLucas is taking things into her own hands at Freckle Farm, near the coal-mining hub of Mackay.

In a bid to get away from chemicals, she has turned a cane farm in the centre of sugar country into an egg and beef cattle property.

"What we're doing here is definitely not normal for most farms in this region," Ms McLucas said.

"That didn't deter us, we're not concerned with following the beaten track."

Her husband Rob Bauman was a "conventional grain farmer" until the pair decided to try something new to "build the health of our soils".

"We've removed chemicals completely from our system," Ms McLucas said.

Deb McLucas has transformed her cane farm into an egg and beef cattle property. ( ABC News: Caitlyn Gribbin )

They are working to build organic matter in the soil, which they believe will help capture more moisture and make better use of rain when it does fall.

"I think all farmers are concerned about the climate and what they can do to improve their own farming practices," Ms McLucas said.

As the Australia Talks National Survey found, more than 70 per cent of people living in rural areas support action on climate change, a sizeable majority, despite being lower than the 85 per cent of inner-metro residents.

But farming is ultimately a business that needs strong finances to survive. So, is there money in being climate conscious?

"In the long term we definitely feel that it will build us a more resilient system both environmentally and financially", Ms McLucas said.

'Spread the risk'

Rohan Thorn with his baby Morrison and his wife Laura. ( ABC News: Caitlyn Gribbin )

Back in Western Australia, young farmer Rohan Thorn, his brothers and father have started harvesting canola, one of several crops planted this year.

"We used to grow one variety of each crop, now we're growing two or three of every crop and more crops," Mr Thorn said.

"We're growing different varieties of each type of crop to try and spread the risk. So different varieties have different frost tolerances, drought tolerances."

He has noticed things are changing at the Kojonup property, south-east of Perth.

"My old man will tell you that when he started growing crop on a bigger scale, the limiting factor for him was the waterlogging — 500-600mm of rain. Now, we're getting 300-350mm a year," he said.

"The climate science, for me, I never needed any convincing.

"Take anyone who has a question about it, you bring them out here and see it for themselves."

Rohan Thorn and his family are diversifying their crops to get ahead of climate change. ( ABC News: Mark Bennett )

Mr Thorn says the steps they're taking to adapt are "obvious" — frosted gullies are being revegetated and salt-tolerant grasses planted, all with a vision of farming for generations to come.

"It's good grazing, good economics, good business, good for the soil, in turn, hopefully good for the environment," he said.

"[With farming] we're gambling anyway, but with climate change you're getting more variability, so that takes gambling to the next level."

Broad support for climate action 79 per cent think Australia has a responsibility to take action on climate change, even if the biggest emitting countries don't follow suit; a majority of voters across all parties want action, except One Nation voters (34 per cent)

79 per cent think Australia has a responsibility to take action on climate change, even if the biggest emitting countries don't follow suit; a majority of voters across all parties want action, except One Nation voters (34 per cent) The most common belief about climate change (60 per cent) is that "Climate change has been established as a serious problem and immediate action is necessary"

The most common belief about climate change (60 per cent) is that "Climate change has been established as a serious problem and immediate action is necessary" 45 per cent say Australia should respond to climate change by changing our lifestyles and reducing energy consumption, but 20 per cent think climate change is a problem but Australia won't do anything about it

45 per cent say Australia should respond to climate change by changing our lifestyles and reducing energy consumption, but 20 per cent think climate change is a problem but Australia won't do anything about it Support for action on climate change is much stronger in inner metro areas (85 per cent) than in rural areas (71 per cent)

Support for action on climate change is much stronger in inner metro areas (85 per cent) than in rural areas (71 per cent) More than 80 per cent of Australians think water (89 per cent) and the environment (86 per cent) are problems for Australia Source: the Australia Talks National Survey, a nationally-representative survey of 54,000 Australians. The survey data was weighted using sex, age, education level, language of use, geographical region, State and voting choice in the 2019 Federal election to match a representative sample of the Australian population.

The Australia Talks National Survey asked 54,000 Australians about their lives and what keeps them up at night. Use our interactive tool to see the results and how their answers compare with yours — available in English, simplified Chinese, Arabic and Vietnamese.

Then, join Annabel Crabb as she takes you through some of the most surprising and exciting insights with Waleed Aly on the Australia Talks TV special on iview.



