Heartbreaking extent of drought revealed

QUEENSLAND farmers have lost half their annual income and about 60 per cent are running on very limited water supply due to ongoing drought conditions, a new survey has revealed.

QUEENSLAND farmers have lost half their annual income and about 60 per cent are running on very limited water supply due to ongoing drought conditions, a new survey has revealed.

The 2018 drought survey, released today, has also found around 10 per cent of farmers had no surface water remaining and 81.5 per cent of our cattle and sheep producers were running less than three quarters of their usual livestock numbers.

AgForce Queensland has used the report to renew its calls for immediate, additional support for drought-affected communities doing it tough and an overhaul of the national drought policy to deliver better long-term outcomes.

AgForce general president Grant Maudsley said the current drought had taken a financial, emotional and environmental toll on many regional communities in Queensland.

“This survey lays bare the impact of the drought with the vast majority of Queensland’s cattle and sheep producers running much lower livestock numbers and results indicate almost a quarter of the state’s grain growers not planting a crop at all this year,” he said.

“The survey also highlighted the resilience of farmers in the face of adversity. While almost half of those surveyed rated the financial and personal impacts of this drought as worse than previous droughts, about two-thirds were optimistic about the long-term outlook for their businesses.”

Mr Maudsley will be attending tomorrow night’s drought summit in Canberra and said there needed to be better policies in place to manage the impacts of drought.

“AgForce believes Queensland and Australia needs an enduring drought policy and have proposed an ‘Agricultural Business Cycle’ approach to help move governments from mainly responding in crisis and to empower producers to continually better manage the impacts of climate risks across their business,” he said.

“The ongoing nature of this drought has overwhelmed even the best efforts of many producers to prepare.”

The survey has also highlighted half of those surveyed had lost up to half their annual income and seven per cent reported no change to their income this year.

More than half also said they were concerned about the lack of rain and the cost and supply of seeds, feed and stock.