Amount of NSW impacted by drought doubles in a month as new low-interest loans rolled out for farmers

The state’s rapidly-worsening drought has spurred the NSW Government into rolling out a $250 million package of low-interest loans in a bid to help battered farmers weather a forecast dry summer.

The state’s rapidly-worsening drought has spurred the NSW Government into rolling out a $250 million package of low-interest loans in a bid to help battered farmers weather a forecast dry summer.

Producers in regional NSW will be able to apply for loans worth up to $250,000 which can be used for purchasing feed or transporting livestock as part of the Drought Ready and Resilient Fund, The Daily Telegraph can reveal.

It comes as the amount of the state deemed drought-impacted has more than doubled in just over a month.

More than 75 per cent of the state is either drought-affected (43 per cent), in drought (26.4 per cent) or in intense drought (5.7 per cent), according to the latest figures from the NSW Government’s Combined Drought Indicator.

That figure was at only 32.5 per cent at the start of October.

The Daily Telegraph as part of its 2023 Bush Summit campaign highlighted farmers’ fears over the coming summer after rainfall levels dropped to historic lows across swathes of NSW, with calls for the NSW Government to do more to clarify what support it’d give to those in the regions.

NSW Farmers Association president Xavier Martin said the announcement of the extra funding was welcomed given the other challenges facing producers.

“It’s very timely – the government has had a good hard think about what’s required in the face of drought and extremes of climate,” he said.

“With the collapse in red meat prices and crop yields in many parts of the state being well below average, the looming drought conditions are obviously a very difficult scenario to face for many farmers.”

Farmers will be able to pay off the loans over five or ten years, with research by the NSW Rural Assistance Authority saying a farmer would save an average of $40,000 over a five-year loan, when compared to interest rates on commercial loans.

Chris Minns said “disaster preparation is more important than ever before”.

Farmers will still be able to access loans worth up to $1 million from the $120m remaining in the Farm Innovation Fund.

Premier Chris Minns said “we know disaster preparation is more important than ever before”.

“This is a significant investment which demonstrates our commitment to the resilience of farmers across our state, particularly as they enter drier and warmer weather conditions,” he said.

“This is a common sense initiative that allows farmers to get ahead of the dry season and protect their livelihoods.”

Agriculture Minister Tara Moriarty said the NSW Government was closely monitoring the drought indicator.

“The aim of this...is to give farmers access to operational funding so they can get assistance to work through a challenging period,” she said.

“This is a commonsense approach to ensuring farmers and livestock producers across NSW have the resources they need in the event of drought.”