The ongoing drought and confirmed climate change are realities that pose a significant challenge for modern Australia.
This country was built on gold and wool, commodities that come from rural areas. I can’t quote the exact figures, but I believe that something like 50 percent of people lived in the bush at 1900 compared with about 20 percent today.
The number of farms has diminished as machinery has improved and economies of scale have changed.
The drought has lingered in most parts of the country for 10 years, with some occasional teasing rain.
Debate has now begun about the most appropriate form of drought relief; whether we should support farmers through hard times or support them to leave their farms.
I’m not sitting on the barbed wire fence, but I think the solution will be a creative compromise.
I agree that traditional farming will be unsustainable in some parts of Australia. I don’t know how much longer people can keep planting crops in parts of the Mallee and Eyre Peninsula. In 100 years I suspect that land will be station country like the Flinders Ranges.
In other areas the type of farming activity may have to change. For example, dryland dairying may become unviable here in the North East and farmers will switch to beef or sheep.
Any country that values its land and its people will support stakeholders through this transition.
There is already an acceptance that farmers are the front end of environmental stewardship and several pilot programs have been established to encourage ecological best practice.
Under these programs, farmers are paid to take commercial land out of production for tree planting or wetlands restoration. There should be more of this.
The political quick fix is cash, fodder subsidies and tax breaks. In some cases I imagine this gives false hope that a struggling farmer can hang on till next year and a better season.
When Juliet and I arrived at Ceduna in 1992 it was a dustbowl. There were numerous stories about distressed farmers committing suicide.
We can’t afford this to happen for the individuals, families and communities involved. There needs to be a considered, strategic approach to change management with financial clout behind it.
I can’t but reflect once more on the billion dollars we gave Indonesia after the tsunami and the countless millions we’re spending to “rebuild” and “secure” Iraq. What price the future of rural Australia?
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