Josh Gilbert's family has farmed land on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales for 40,000 years.
The young indigenous farmer wants that to continue for another 40,000 but believes climate change could derail his plans.
He's in Paris representing Australia's young farmers at major climate talks and is urging the Australian government to implement policies to curb emissions.
"Farmers will keep adapting as much as they can but there's going to come a time when that limit's up," he told AAP on Thursday.
"We could head for something that we really don't want to."
Crowd-funding got Mr Gilbert and fellow NSW farmer Anika Molesworth to Paris to tell their stories and learn from hundreds of other farmers from around the world.
Ms Molesworth, whose family runs a sheep station in Broken Hill, breeds African livestock that are drought resilient to help cope with extended droughts and heat waves.
"This spring we had weeks over 40 degrees and it's not even summer," she told AAP.
"So you see that taking a toll on on the vegetation and your livestock."
Mr Gilbert believes traditional indigenous practices can help adapt to climate change and spends time learning about the land from family and elders.
"They understand the land really, really well so the adaptation is really quick," he said.
"On our farm, we live on the motto that we've been farming for 40,000 years and we want to make decisions today so that we can farm for the next 40,000 years."
Both farmers are urging global governments to come up with a strong agreement in Paris to curb emissions and limit global warming.
They also want the Australian government to do more.
"Farmers keep running the race but we need to make sure that the government is there to back us up and we do have strong policy," Mr Gilbert said.
Ms Molesworth is bracing for hotter summers and lower rainfalls, something she'll have to find ways to cope with in the already naturally dry and hot region.
But she says it could be worse.
"We are so lucky that we are Australian farmers," she said.
"I'm listening to people in the developing world who are literally going hungry, they can't feed their families."
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