South Australian farmer Steph Schmidt is worried her harvest will end earlier than expected after experiencing one of the driest seasons in years.
“It’s probably been cut shorter because the majority of our crops at home are now just going to be sheep feed,” she said.
“We’ve started attempting to reach them [crops] and realise they were even worse than what we thought they were going to be.”
Much of the state, including typically wet areas like the South East, has experienced some of the driest years on record.
Steph Schmidt says the funding recognises that people are doing it tough. (Supplied: Stepth Schmidt )
Widespread crop losses due to frost have also made life hard for farmers this year.
South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas announced an $18 million state government drought assistance program on Tuesday, saying the state was experiencing drought conditions “not seen in some time”.
Farmers can access grants for up to 75 per cent of the costs of drought infrastructure to a maximum of $5,000.
Properties on SA’s Limestone Coast are facing a green drought, where the land looks green, but growth is minimal. (ABC South East SA: Sam Bradbrook)
Ms Schmidt, who runs a farm in the Mid North, said the funding would allow more investment on farms, but worried the worst-affected farmers would not have the money to use it.
“I feel that sometimes these kinds of rebates benefit those who have the funds sitting there available, not necessarily those who are most directly financially impacted by drought,” she said.
‘Hand-up’ for farmers
Mr Malinauskas said while harvests in recent years had been some of the best on record, the situation this year meant the state government had to step in.
Peter Malinauskas says the SA government is stepping in to support farmers. (ABC News: Briana Fiore)
“Today we acknowledged, even with the world’s best practice, even with some of the most efficient and effective farmers the world has ever seen, there is still a role for government to provide support where we can,” he said.
Other measures include $4.4 million to fund rural financial counsellors to provide free advice to farmers and $5.5 million for ongoing programs to help farmers build drought resilience measures.
Upper South East and Mallee farmer Robyn Verrall said it was a “hand-up, not a handout”.
“The next couple of months are going to be really hard,” she said.
“Most areas are down by about 200 [millimetres] to 300mm of rain, so it’s not going to be any easier.”
Robyn Verrall and her husband Chris own a lamb and cattle farm near Bordertown. (ABC South East SA: Bec Whetham)
Hay producers need donations
Charities operating feed delivery services will be eligible for a share of $2 million in funding and the Rural Financial Counselling Service and the Family and Business Support Program will receive $1 million.
With the lack of rain limiting feed for livestock, deliveries of hay have been sought after across the state.
Farmers across the state have needed hay deliveries this year. (ABC News: Eliza Berlage)
Rural Aid chief executive John Warlters said the funding would allow the organisation to deal with climbing transport costs.
“Traditionally, SA’s been a fantastically reliable growing area of fodder, which Rural Aid in previous times has been able to distribute to other parts of the country,” he said.
“Now we have that scenario where many of the growers that we’ve relied on previously to get that fodder are going through these really tough and challenging times themselves.”
