NINETEENTH century poet Dorothea Mackellar famously described Australia as a country “of droughts and flooding rains”.
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But in recent years there has been far too much of the former and a worrying lack of the latter for those toiling to make a living off the land.
Few Australian farmers can claim to have enjoyed anything approaching an “average” season over the last decade.
Instead, they have been forced to continually to do more with less to the point where there are simply no more efficiencies left to be made.
Statistics from the Department of Agriculture and Water Resources show that more families in the Buloke Shire are receiving the Farm Household Allowance than anywhere else in Victoria.
This money, which is aligned with the Newstart Allowance rate, is undoubtedly a help, but it cannot come remotely close to meeting the costs associated with running a farm.
Nor do banks offer an unlimited line of credit. Eventually they want their money back – and them some.
Jeffcott farmer Mark Donnellon is has admitted to enduring sleepless nights as he sweated on a decision by his bank on whether they would give him enough money to see out the year.
Across central Victoria, he is not alone. For many, this season is make or break.
The paucity of rain year after year does not just impact on farmers, but trickles right through the economies of these towns.
One only has to take a walk down the once-bustling main streets of these proud rural communities to realise how hard the drought is hitting.
Quite simply, they resemble ghost towns, with shuttered shops clearly outnumbering those whose doors remain open.
Historic pubs, for so many decades the social epicentre of these communities, stand empty; agri-businesses that once would have done a roaring trade have moved on; banks have long ago packed up their branches and left town.
In the end, only rain – the right amount at the right time – can fully rehydrate these wilting operations.
But we need our governments – local, state and federal – to keep the faith and continue to invest in the infrastructure that allows the rain that does fall to be captured and distributed as efficiently as possible.
- Ross Tyson, deputy editor