Improved climate risk decision-making and management in agriculture is critical to the well-being and long-term sustainability of farming communities and future global food security. Decision-making on farms often makes assumptions about seasonal conditions and weather events over the cropping season. Projected climate change and increasing climate variability are likely to pose increasing challenges to the productivity and profitability of farming systems. Hence, better understanding of climate information may improve farmers' ability to plan for climate risk.

Digital technologies offer an important alternative in the delivery and communication of agricultural information, complementing and expanding the reach of conventional face-to-face agricultural extension services, particularly where these are subject to declining levels of investment. Sophisticated digital platforms and their applications in learning environments also offer new opportunities which may influence and significantly enhance agricultural knowledge exchange.

This paper reports on a project undertaken by the University of Southern Queensland's Australian Digital Futures Institute and International Centre for Applied Climate Sciences to develop and evaluate a web-based virtual ‘discussion-support' system that integrates climate information with practical farming operations in Australian sugar farming systems. Customized video clips (machinima), created in the Second Life virtual world environment, use lifelike avatar actors to model conversations about climate risk and key farm operational decisions relevant to sugarcane farmers. Designed to be readily available online, this innovative approach is designed to provide more equitable and cost-effective access to targeted climate information as well as improved learning and decision-making opportunities at local, regional, national and even global scales.