Rain not enough to break drought’s grip

THE skies above this Queensland farming region have finally opened, but have only dropped enough rain to tease drought-declared farmers.

THE skies above Dalby have finally opened, but have only dropped enough rain to tease drought-declared farmers.

Grain grower Kim Bremner received 7.5mm over the weekend, far short of the 200mm his family needs to soak their paddocks and give them confidence they’ll get a crop when they plant.

Others in the district missed out entirely.

And the rains did not fall on the parched west where newly-appointed Queensland drought commissioner Vaughan Johnson said the big dry had crippled the bush.

Only generosity from the city had kept some families going and even when the rain comes, the Queensland bush faces years of recovery.

He said the priority was saving what was still alive in paddocks, ready to rebuild.

Mr Bremner said some farmers were being forced to sell up after missing three summer crops in a row, with patchy storms missing their properties and leaving the paddocks too parched.

“We had 7.5mm which was enough to settle the dust but did nothing for our upcoming planting,” Mr Bremner said.

“We need a lot more rain to feel comfortable we are planting into moisture.

“We plant nine times out of 10. It is the other end that is the tricky bit.”

“You used to think about area-sized storms coming through, a dozen or 20 properties getting a couple of inches of rain.

“The trend for the last few years is we are getting paddock-sized storms, where half the farm will get two inches of rain and the other half will get nothing, or one neighbour will get rain and the other neighbour will get nothing – smaller storms that are more intense.”

Grain grower Kim Bremner on his drought-declared property near Dalby. Picture: Nigel Hallett

He said drought declarations had given growers some comfort but the State Government should remove stamp duty from drought insurance like New South Wales and Victoria so farmers could help themselves in tough times, and reduce registration for farm vehicles.

“If you go to the bank and you’re in a drought declared area it gives something for them to take to their credit managers. They can say ‘this whole area’s in drought let’s give this guy some extra money so he can carry on because it is going to rain next year.

“There are some guys who have lost three summer crops in a row and are now considering they should sell up before it gets any worse.”

The Queensland Drought Appeal — organised by the CWA with backing from the Commonwealth Bank, Channel 7 and The Courier-Mail and The Sunday Mail — has so far raised $1.34 million for the bush.