Peter’s farm is on ‘flood country’. As Australia’s sea levels rise, safe land is vanishing and costs are huge
News Source
•Wed, 09 Sep 2026 14:01:01 GMT
📰 What Happened
Peter Lake runs a cattle farm in the northern rivers region of New South Wales. He bought the land in 2007, knowing it was flood country. Since 2009 his property has flooded five times. In a major flood, only about 15 of his 130 acres stay dry.
During the huge 2022 flood, just a few acres remained safe. Drought and repeated floods have also stopped him from growing feed for his cattle for years. Lake says the amount of safe ground is shrinking. If seas keep rising, he warns, the property will become less and less viable.
🔍 The Backstory
Lake's farm sits beside the Coldstream River, between Yamba and Grafton. He has careful plans for floods, like moving cattle to dry paddocks and storing fodder there. But those plans need dry land, and there is less of it every year.
Scientists link heavier floods and rising seas to climate change. The Climate Council forecasts that more than 267,000 coastal properties will be damaged by flooding by 2100. The bill could run into hundreds of billions of dollars. Farmers like Lake are on the front line, forced to rethink how they manage land that once seemed safe.
🎯 Why It Matters
When farms flood again and again, food production and rural jobs suffer. Rising seas and bigger floods also threaten homes and insurance costs for everyone. Peter's story shows these changes are already here, not something far in the future.
Peter Lake runs a cattle farm in the northern rivers region of New South Wales. He bought the land in 2007, knowing it was flood country. Since 2009 his property has flooded five times. In a major flood, only about 15 of his 130 acres stay dry.
During the huge 2022 flood, just a few acres remained safe. Drought and repeated floods have also stopped him from growing feed for his cattle for years. Lake says the amount of safe ground is shrinking. If seas keep rising, he warns, the property will become less and less viable.
Lake's farm sits beside the Coldstream River, between Yamba and Grafton. He has careful plans for floods, like moving cattle to dry paddocks and storing fodder there. But those plans need dry land, and there is less of it every year.
Scientists link heavier floods and rising seas to climate change. The Climate Council forecasts that more than 267,000 coastal properties will be damaged by flooding by 2100. The bill could run into hundreds of billions of dollars. Farmers like Lake are on the front line, forced to rethink how they manage land that once seemed safe.
When farms flood again and again, food production and rural jobs suffer. Rising seas and bigger floods also threaten homes and insurance costs for everyone. Peter's story shows these changes are already here, not something far in the future.