Everyone expected the big rain to come after ANZAC Day. The sky greyed, drizzled pitifully, then closed back up. It was not until June that the stubborn clouds finally burst over Cameron (Cam) Nicholson’s farm on the Bellarine Peninsula. By then, the animals they decided to keep had been supplementary fed for six months.
Cam loves his job. For 40 years, he has commuted 10 minutes from Queenscliff to a 400-hectare oasis he owns with his wife, Fiona Conroy. They rear Merino sheep and high-quality Angus beef. Cam also runs a consultancy business and teaches Agricultural science at Marcus Oldham College in Geelong.
“I am enjoying every minute of it,” Cam says. “Well, most minutes, I’ve got a shitty one at the moment, we all do.”
Victoria’s South-West has recorded three failed autumn (rainfall) breaks in a row. Cam is no stranger to drought, ‘green’ or otherwise, having farmed right through the millenium drought, which affected the Southwest off and on from 1998 to 2007. But this year feels different.
“All of last year was awful,” Cam says. “We didn’t actually start growing anything until June, and by then we had used all our stored feed which we anticipated would have got us through”
The Bellarine region may look green, but the dust-dry dirt underneath the vegetation tells another story. Expensive bales of hay are trucked increasing distances from the farm and bring short-term relief before more is required.
As much as Cam knows drought, having consulted with many-a drought-concerned farmer, he also knows the key to navigating a drying climate is building resilience in the good times to adapt to the uncertain.
“People need to be better prepared,” he says. “It’s been a steep learning curve because we thought we had enough fodder on hand but we didn’t. Instead of buying the new header, buy spend it on drought infrastructure.”
Cam upgraded his containment feeding approach used in the millennium drought to last year, with new sheds and better containment pens, and upgraded water infrastructure.
Cam’s wife Fiona has been heavily invested in genetic improvement for 30 years, with each animal’s performance dutifully recorded.
“She’d hate to lose them all,” Cam says.
These decisions are not just financially draining but also emotionally devastating.
“Psychologically, that’s really hard,” Cam says. “You’ve spent generations breeding certain genetics, and then you’ve got to start selling them.”
But the quiet satisfaction of good times keeps farmers going. “Produce a good wool clip, you’re buzzing for weeks.”
Cam says government policies are making farming unattractive for young workers. When he started his career at Agriculture Victoria, most people had a connection to a farm somewhere.
“Government policies are increasingly being formulated by people who have no connection with agriculture and food production,” he says.
Agriculture Victoria did not respond for comment.
Rural tension boiled over this year when Jacinta Allen’s government announced the introduction of the Emergency Services and Volunteers Fund Levy (ESVF), which will increase the existing levy that taxes property to fund emergency services such as the Country Fire Authority, Ambulances, and more. Taxpayers will be eligible for a rebate if they volunteer/volunteered for an emergency service, but this will only be applicable for their primary residence.
“There’s white-hot anger out in regional communities at the moment,” Cam says.
Farmers are particularly angered by the levy because the levy is calculated off a property’s Capital Improved Value (how much a property is worth). This will increase the charge for primary production land by 109 percent, costing the average farmer around $1,299 a year.
In a statement from May, Premier Jacinta Allen said the changes would give emergency services the funding and equipment they need to face natural disasters which are happening more often and becoming more destructive.
After almost 5000 farmers and CFA volunteers descended on Parliament House on state budget day, the Victorian government rolled back the levy increase for the 2045/25 financial year.
A recent survey of 700 farmers by the Victorian Farmer’s Federation found 92.4 percent disagreed the Victorian government understood or listened to the concerns of farmers. Cam says these policies, which target primary producers only, widen the gap between people on the land and those in the parliament.
“Early discussion with people that the policy changes are going to effect, rather than anger or confrontational stuff, is what we’ve got to do,” he says. “Farmers all help other farmers. That’s how we get through.”
If you or someone you know needs drought support, contact [email protected] or. call 136 186.
This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.
