(FoxBusiness) - Australia's wine and grain production, two of its most important farm industries, will be hit hardest by extreme weather and rising temperatures caused by climate change, the head of the government's forecasting agency said Monday.

Farmers could be displaced from traditional lands by droughts, or be forced to plant crops that are more resistant to heat and periods without rainfall in order to remain, according to Paul Morris, executive director of the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resource Economics and Sciences, or Abares.

Australia exports about 70% of its farm production each year, making it one of the world's largest suppliers of wheat, beef and sugar. With its vast landmass, diverse climate and proximity to Asia, many forecasters are expecting it to become the breadbasket of the region's rapidly growing middle class.

But it is also the world's driest inhabited continent with a highly variable climate that many scientists argue is already becoming more extreme.