Peterborough farmers warn SA drought now flowing past farmgate and hurting towns
SA farmers say the flow-on effects are already happening as the environmental disaster now facing the entire state deepens.
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He’s a fifth generation sheep grazier attempting to earn a crust on a patch of red-brown soil known as Merngenia Station.
We’re about 50 kilometres north east of Peterborough in the state’s Mid North, and Michael Burford, 44, is giving us the run-down about life on the land in the middle of a drought.
Needless to say, he’s worried. But he’s not only worried about himself. He’s worried about his sons Brodie and Brock, aged 13 and 10, and if the station’s 15,000 hectares will be able to sustain them.
And he’s concerned about the future of towns such as Peterborough in the wake of this drought which has forced farmers across the state to close their wallets as they attempt to survive the driest 12 months on record.
Because, as Mr Burford points out, it’s not just the farmers who struggle during a drought. It’s also the pubs, bakeries, hardware stores and machinery businesses that rely on farmers for their custom.
“We used to try to go to the pub or something for tea once a fortnight, just to get off the place for five hours,” he says.
“But now we just go, well that’s $100 bucks, that’s what we got to save. Yeah, that’s the scary part.
“So the pub misses out, then they’re going to put people off. I don’t think the government realises how dire it actually is. It’s a big flow-on effect.
“So yes, farmers, we are resilient. Most of us will get through. A lot of farmers won’t. But a lot of shops will shut. There’s going to be a flow-on effect 10-fold out of this farm gate.”
Mr Burford is a former North Adelaide SANFL footballer who returned to help run the station 20-odd years ago after a stint in Adelaide and then Perth, where he played in the WAFL.
He’s thankful his grandfather had the foresight to plant thousands of saltbush on the farm in the 1970s – vegetation that has helped keep his sheep alive.
The family has long given up on cropping here, well north of the Goyder Line, and relies on bore water to fill the dams and troughs the sheep rely on.
He sold more than half of his sheep during a previous drought five or so years ago and has since been gradually restocking. He’s still a few hundred short of the number he reckons he needs to turn a profit, but any thoughts of buying more ewes this year is on the back burner.
“As much as I’d love to see a sixth generation take over, I just hope there’s some sort of future for them,” he says as we sip water in his kitchen. “And not just because it’s been family, but once this red dirt gets in your veins, they say you can’t get it out.”
The water we are drinking is purchased in boxes at the supermarket. The house runs on rain water but there’s not much left and he’s already run out twice in the past 12 months.
Despite receiving a couple of decent rains in November, his dams are all dry and he’s not sure what will happen if the drought continues.
“Everyone’s in trouble (if we don’t get rain soon),” he says. “The entire state’s in dire trouble already. I don’t think there’s anywhere really looking good.”
It’s a weather event that Mount Remarkable Mayor Stephen McCarthy, 67, describes as “very significant”, with a “major, major impact” on entire communities.
Mr McCarthy wants the people of Adelaide to start taking notice of what is happening in the Mid North and he’s worried about the future of some country towns.
“Whenever you have major events, particularly in rural areas, and there’s a decline in services… things don’t come back to the level that they used to be – people find a way to do without,” he says.
“If we are not able to sustain the current enterprises out there, be it in farming or other rural enterprises, the towns will continue to shrink. And so that’s quite alarming really.
“We’ve already lost banks and post offices and… pubs. And so it is shrinking, there’s no doubt about that. And that is a concern.”
Mr McCarthy fears what might become of towns such as Booleroo Centre, which has an official population of 266, if something were to happen to major employers such as the local hospital and aged care centre.
Booleroo Centre is home of Flinders Machinery, one of many rural supply businesses throughout the state feeling the strain of the drought.
Salesman Steve Williams, 67, has worked here for 18 years and says he’s never seen anything like the drought the region is currently experiencing.
Tractor sales have stalled and the business is working with farmers to put their repayments on hold until they start earning an income again. And who knows when that will be.
“Even if it does rain, it’s going to need to be substantial,” he says. “The farmers’ wallets still aren’t going to open because of the fact that there was no income for last year.
“At the end of the day, last year was an absolute total disaster. Talking to some of the elderly farmers, they are saying it’s the worst they’ve ever known it. And these are guys that are in their late 80s, early 90s.”
Up at Quorn, Ben Carn, 68, is accustomed to adjusting his farming practices because of drought. He’s gradually built up the family’s land to the point where he now has about 80,000 hectares – about 60,000 at a station near Arkaroola in the northern Flinders Ranges, the rest near Quorn. He runs about 11,000 sheep and has lived through a few droughts before but says the biggest difference this time around is skyrocketing input costs.
“Some droughts are vicious, like catch you and then they’re gone, and other droughts hang on for a long time, so it depends how long it goes for as to how bad they are,” he says over a beer in the shade of his veranda on his property a few kilometres south of the Quorn.
“The biggest thing now is it’s our cost – we can’t control costs.
“Costs (in previous droughts) weren’t as high – you’ve got the internet now, and your phone... it just keeps steam-rolling in and the government charges you more and more.
“And insurance... and you can’t control it and you can’t do without them... you’ve just got a million charges going up every bloody day. That’s what’s running us over, it’s just the charges.”
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