Victorian Agriculture Minister Ros Spence meets with farmers on Western Victoria drought

Farmers in Western Victoria have told Agriculture Minister Ros Spence that despite some winter rain, their season remains on a knife’s-edge.

UPDATE

Farmers in the state’s far west say they feel like “forgotten cousins” and that the Victorian government “doesn’t understand how many factors we’re up against”.

Dergholm farmer Glenn Davis said Victoria’s Agriculture Minister Ros Spence’s tour of farms hit by the green drought in the Western District on Wednesday was “an eye opener for her”.

He said the impacts of the green drought were being felt throughout rural communities and would take “many years” to recover.

“And it doesn’t stop at the farm gate, it goes the whole way into our towns, communities, retailers, sporting clubs – everyone is feeling it and the spending stops,” Mr Davis said.

“I think the meeting was positive, she seemed to listen to us, but didn’t make any promises.

“We spoke about just how dry it is, and the impact on our businesses, the huge amount of money spent on buying in feed.

“Even though we have had some rain, there is no (deep) soil moisture and there hasn’t been run off.

“We are four or five days off another disaster.”

Mr Davis and wife Kylie hosted an earlier visit from Rural Assistance Commissioner Peter Tuohey and said the success of the minister’s visit to the area could be attributed to that visit. “He (Mr Tuohey) got us a voice down there (in Melbourne) and now it is up to the minister to carry our concerns through and address the issues we raised and deliver some action,” Mr Davis said. 

Farmers who met with Ms Spence also raised the unfairness of hikes to the Fire Services Levy and the burden of “plague proportion kangaroo numbers” decimating farmer’s paddocks. 

Mr Davis said although pastures were benefiting from recent falls, dry, windy weather could soon sap out what available water was in soils and end the growing season and pasture growth. 

Farmers meet with the Victorian Agriculture Minister at Dergholm. Pictured are Casterton dairy farmer Lachlan Tindall, livestock producer Shane Foster, Minister Ros Spence, Glenelg Shire councillor Karen Stephens, Ag Victoria's Beth Jones and Dougal Purcell with Dergholm livestock producer Glenn Davis. 

Although the Davis family had access to river suppliers, many others would be “a hell of a lot worse off” with dwindling dam water levels. 

Farmers across much of Western Victoria who rely on farm dams for livestock water also face declining water quality. 

An extremely dry autumn, followed by a winter where winter rainfall averages were below 70-80 per cent in most areas failed to provide crucial run off to replenish dams. 

Many farms have been carting in water for months and face an uncertain summer.

Casterton dairy farmer Lachlan Tindall also met the minister and explained how hard the community was hit.

Mr Tindall would normally buy in about 10 B-double loads of fodder in 12 months for his dairy, but this year he was forced to purchase 31 loads. This came on top of declining milk prices. 

Glenelg Shire councillor Karen Stephens said while it was “excellent” to have the Ms Spence on the ground in the far south west, the impacts on the community from the costly dry were “extreme”.

“From the farmers to the hairdresser, it is having an immense impact,” she said.

Cr Stephens said a Casterton school had told her that “farm kids were coming to school without enough food”.

“It really is a very severe situation,” she said.

“I would like to see Regional Development Victoria step up and help get some outside money into these towns, whether it is through tourism or arts programs.”

WEDNESDAY

Dairy leaders say a much-anticipated meeting with Victoria’s Agriculture Minister was an important step towards a state-federal green drought package.

Ros Spence toured southwest Victoria today, seeing the green drought zone first-hand at Bessiebelle and Macarthur, 65 kilometres northwest of Warrnambool.

The State Agriculture Minister also visited Dergholm, 35 kilometres northwest of Casterton — near the South Australian border.

Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett and United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free both met Ms Spence today.

They both invited Federal Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to visit the green drought zone in order to achieve a state-federal assistance package.

“Meeting the State Minister is a step in the right direction,” Mr Bennett said.

“That direction we hope leads to some form of deal between the Victorian and federal governments. Melbourne can do a little bit, Canberra can do a lot.

“Meeting Ros Spence is the latest step — she’ll pass her findings onto the Premier and take it from there but the clock is ticking. The economic impact of this green drought is huge and it’s not just farmers that are feeling the financial pressure.”

Mr Free said broadening the scope of the Regional Investment Corporation for farm loans was one step the federal government could examine.

“We hope this meeting gets the message to the Premier and the federal government,” the UDV president said.

“If the message gets tho those who control the purse strings, that’s the aim. We’d also invited Julie Collins, the federal ag minister, down to southwest Victoria, if that will speed up the process. Once you see the green drought, you understand the problems farmers and the wider community is facing.”

The office of the State Agriculture Minister was contacted for comment.

Ms Spence’s visit comes as Rabobank became the first financial institution to announce targeted support to farmers hit by drought in southwest Victoria and elsewhere.

Rabobank country banking group executive Marcel van Doremaele said while the majority of the bank’s clients were managing the prolonged dry conditions well, the bank was offering support where required.

A drained dam at Bookaar, near Camperdown in southwest Victoria. Picture: Zoe Phillips

Mr van Doremaele said this support would also extend to farming clients hit by severe weather – including heavy winds and flooding – in Tasmania and southern Victoria in recent days, which had damaged infrastructure and caused power outages.

“There have been very challenging seasonal conditions in large parts of southwest Victoria, the southeastern areas of South Australia and much of Tasmania, where there have been significant rainfall deficits since spring last year into winter this year,” he said.