Future of farming: Region tackles drought with national forum

A national forum to identify strategies and prepare agriculture sector workers for drought was recently held in Toowoomba.

FUTURE OF FARMING: Representing young people at the National Drought Forum is UNICEF youth representatives Monique Worsley (left) and Sally Downie.

Drought remains to be one of the major impacts on farmers, regional communities and the agriculture sector with many Aussies facing the issue for close to a decade.

In a bid to evaluate drought reform progress and identify areas of improvement, the National Drought Forum was recently held in Toowoomba.

UNICEF youth ambassadors Sally Downie and Monique Worsley were selected to represent younger generations and share their own lived experiences with drought.

“I’ve always lived on a farm … my family got a dairy farm that was heavily impacted by drought and my partner and I also have a mixed farm in Trundle – a very small town in New South Wales,” Ms Downie said.

“We were constantly feeding and watering our sheep, lost quite a lot of stock and had to completely de-stock our cattle due to the drought.

“For three consecutive years we didn’t have a successful crop, so we didn’t bother harvesting and income was very low so we really felt the pressure as young farmers just starting out.”

Ms Worsley left her family farm in Orange at 18-years-old to commence her tertiary studies and witnessed how challenging the transition to a city can be for regional and rural students.

“For me I want to advocate for rural communities as well as young people who require transitional support,” she said.

“Drop out rates at university are incredibly high for regional and rural students more than any other demographic so it’s really important to foster an understanding between rural or regional and urban students like from paddock to plate programs.”

With a purpose to develop strategies the forum aims to assist the future of farming.

“It’s not about preventing drought because you can’t control the climate and we know it’s only going to get more severe and frequent,” Ms Worsley said. “The focus is about sharing ideas on what we can do in between seasons and equipping farmers and communities with the skills and resources they need to prepare for drought.”

It was hosted by the National Farmers Federation and National Recovery and Resiliency Agency.