Changing farmer attitudes to climate change is difficult. We believe that historic efforts to transfer knowledge, build understanding and thereby influence attitudes and beliefs have, at best, had limited success. We consider that despite the considerable general discourse of climate threat and risk to the future of farming and agriculture, particularly in South Western Australia, farmer and rural community views on climate change are considerably more sceptical and ill-informed that in the broader community.

Work in the Murray-Darling Basin, Tasmania and  Western Australia (WA) show high levels of 'rual' uncertainty about climate change. PATN analysis of 255 farmers and 155 non farmers in rural WA surveyed in 2010 has enabled them to be characterised into 16 subcategories and three major categories of climate change ‘acceptors', ‘sceptics' and ‘uncertains'. From the characterisation and the wicked problem nature of the influence of climate change on the decision making process of farmers, which is established in the literature, the poor outcomes from efforts to transfer knowledge and consequently change attitudes and belief influence can be better understood. Through greater understanding of the influences shaping attitudes and beliefs, it is possible to frame more effective knowledge transfer mechanisms and build understanding, leading to changed attitudes and behaviours. We postulate that, in the face of climate change, new engagement models for building knowledge can successfully lead to improved adaptive capacity and potentially transformative decision making. A likely result is the use of more sustainable practices by farmers and enhanced business, environmental and social resilience.