Ben Holt finishes preparing his daughter’s lunchbox in their Freshwater Creek cottage while she ties her school shoes. The flowers visible through the kitchen window show that spring is here. But beyond the new growth, a dry ditch in the paddock pulls at Holt’s attention. The cows need water.
Holt is one of more than 1,000 farmers in the Barwon region of south-west Victoria.
Like many others, his life is controlled by the uncontrollable: the rain. When his dam runs dry, Holt pays up to $100 per day for fresh water to keep his 60 Belted Galloway cattle alive. “That’s always there, staring right at me,” he says, gesturing at the dam. “It’s hard to walk away from sometimes.”
The Victorian Government projects the trend of rising temperatures and reduced rainfall will continue. Farmers like Holt bear the worst of the changing climate; water evaporates quickly and grass dries out, forcing them to pay exorbitant amounts for hay to keep their livestock alive. “Three months ago, you were looking at $300 to $500 a bale,” said Holt.
These issues are new to him and his family. Before becoming farmers, Holt was an ambulance driver in Melbourne, and his wife Zoe worked as a police officer. Five years ago they moved to 160 acres of land in Freshwater Creek, a small town 17km south-west of Geelong. They dreamed of towering gumtrees, a vegetable garden and lush grass for their now ten-year-old daughter PJ to enjoy. But these pleasures come with a new reality.
Holt said that he knows “there is no doubt that people [from the city] don’t understand how hard farming is.”
A 2023 report found that 76% of Australian farmers feel their contributions are underappreciated by the public. Since moving to Freshwater Creek, Holt’s own perspective has shifted. Simple things, like buying beef from the supermarket, feel different now that he understands the time and effort that go into the product. “You buy your beef, your polystyrene pack. It was just easy. It was simple,” said Holt.
This disconnect stretches far beyond the supermarket shelves. For farmers, being misunderstood only intensifies the mental strain that comes with life on the land. In 2021, Australian coronial data found that one farmer dies by suicide every 10 days. Holt’s hardest times came a year ago, during some of the driest months on record. He described the summer when the grass was eaten down to the root by the hungry cows, a part which they usually avoid unless they are given no choice. The paddock is bare, dust is lifted into the air and whips the tin shed walls. It stings Holt’s eyes. “I started getting quite overwhelmed by the whole thing, quite anxious. I had a real sort of mental health struggle,” said Holt.
For the Holt family, the burden of poor mental health is made worse by the lack of support from the local council. The Surf Coast Shire oversees towns like Freshwater Creek as well as coastal tourism hubs like Torquay, Anglesea and Lorne.
Holt worries that while productive farmland covers 65 percent of the shire, the council chooses to prioritise the popular tourism destinations. “They want to look after the vista without looking after the farmers,” he says. He thinks that current rates are affecting farmers’ ability to profit off their land, and more needs to be done to ease red tape around building and planning permits.
This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.
