Farmers from around Robert Quirk's sugar cane property in the Tweed Valley have moved 22 tractors to high ground to stop them being destroyed by floodwaters from Tropical Cyclone Alfred.
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Mr Quirk has worked on the family farm since he was 15 years old and remembers the Great Gold Coast Cyclone in February 1954 which hit when he was just a small child.
"We've got four million people who probably haven't been through a cyclone," he told ACM.
"People are going to experience something they're going to remember for a long time."
Mr Quirk said water pumps were on standby to prevent the farm washing away from the rain dumping Tropical Cyclone Alfred is expected to bring.
His 100-hectare farm, on the border between Queensland and NSW, is about five kilometres from the coast.
His cane had already been affected by significant rain and the next two days would only make things worse.
'The climate's changing faster than we can adapt," Mr Quirk, a member of Farmers for Climate Action, said.
"We've got to prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
Cyclones driven further south
The Climate Risk Group said warming sea temperatures are pushing cyclones further south.
"Insurers are also starting to understand these trends," chief executive Dr Karl Mallon said in a statement.
"Our modelling suggests that higher intensity cyclones are increasingly likely for these areas and should they hit, the damage will be devastating.
"Homes in these regions simply aren't built to withstand high intensity storms like these."
Dr Mallon said insurance premiums will rise in these areas as the risk increases.
