Table 5. Some climate and Weather situations and their adverse effects on Agricultural Industries
Climate and Weather Situation	Industry/Resource	Reason Climate is important
Rainfall
too little	Pastures	plants become stressed and may die.
	Livestock	lack of moisture reduces pasture quality® reduced protein, unpalatable, leading to poor nutrition and poor health.
too much	Horticulture Grain crops Pastures Soil resources	plants become stressed and may reduce yield and die. waterlogging can cause nutrient stress. If too much rain occurs at harvest, quality is downgraded for wheat. water erosion and subsequent physical and chemical soil decline and water deterioration downstream.
wrong time	Cherries	suffer from splitting if occurs at harvest
	Pastures	possible weed germination eg. barley grass
	Dried fruits	spoilt crop, increased labour charges to move products quickly.
Temperature
too hot	Plants	Heat stress reduces yield, increased amounts of moisture needed or wilting occurs
	Animals	Heat stress reduces production, requires increased uptake of water, in severe cases may lead to death
too cold	Plants	Cold stress reduces yield eg. wheat with frosts at flowering
	Animals	Cold stress reduces production, requiring increased uptake of food to maintain body weight.
Humidity
	Animals	Heat stress due to difficulty in metabolism with reduced capacity to cool off by sweating.
	Crops/Pastures	Increased incidence of mould and fungus which can attack plants
Wind
too much	Animals	Possible wind chill if cold wind, heat stress if hot wind
	Pastures	Increased evapotranspiration and possible moisture stress, non target chemical damage if sprays are used.
	Crops, horticulture	Lodging of crops; wind damage to fruit trees; non target chemical damage if sprays are used
	Bare soil	Wind erosion and dust storms down wind, reducing soil fertility on site
	People and buildings	Damage, threat to life
not enough	Animals	Heat stress in hot conditions
	Plants	Possible humid conditions (see above), non target chemical damage if sprays are used.
Extreme events
Hail	Livestock Horticulture Pastoral	Destroys fruit and cereal crops. Depending on size can also destroy livestock
Severe storms	Plants, people, animals, buildings	Localised flooding, if coinciding with strong winds may cause physical damage to buildings
Drought	Plants, people, animals, soil, water	Plant moisture stress, wilting and possible death. Animal malnutrition and possible death by starvation; potential soil erosion; financial hardship for majority (due to loss of production and increased costs to maintain supply in shops) ; potential serious algal blooms
Floods	Plants, people, animals, buildings, soil, water	Depending on extent and severity; different levels of damage, risk and financial hardship
Fires	Plants, people, soil, animals, buildings	Depending on extent and severity; different levels of damage, risk and financial hardship