Recent years have been tough on farmers in the Barwon region.
A dry, dry heat hits the fields of wheat and rolling hills on either side of the seemingly endless stretches of road in Victoria’s South West. Cattle and sheep roast under the unforgiving Australian sun, while the farmers look to the skies with both dread and hope.
Drought has always been a feature of the climate here, but farmer and farm alike are feeling the periods of dryness are becoming longer and more frequent.
Once primarily used for industrial purposes, the Barwon region is now a stronghold of farming and agriculture across a number of different sectors, including sheep, cattle and dairy. The drought affects these communities in a number of different ways, and the challenges caused during this period often continue long after the rain is finally felt again, making it difficult to maintain a livelihood.
Many of the people here are from farming families, and intergenerational responsibility means an additional pressure to persevere and stay with the family business.
The more inland Colac area tends to be more impacted by drought specifically but the effects are felt across the region. One of the immediate impacts from reduced rainfall is a lack of feed for livestock. A lack of food being produced for livestock means reserve stocks need to be used instead, with the most recent drought seeing many farmers fully depleting their stocks and having to buy more.
Because the struggle of drought is shared by many, the demand for feed and similar products goes up at the same time making them more expensive.
This is just one of the avenues for increased costs, and farmers are typically required to try and deal with multiple issues simultaneously. As the financial pressures mount, the community has less disposable income for personal expenses. Subsequently, less money flows through the community and everyone feels the tightening of pockets as people struggle to make it through.
While it’s possible for farmers to try and do more, the nature of droughts ultimately makes them unpredictable. Agriculture Victoria under the Future Drought Fund released ‘The Barwon Drought Resilience Plan’ in 2021 analysing the impacts of drought to help communities better prepare themselves for when they occur.
“Droughts can easily be characterised in hindsight, however in reality they are slow moving, complex and dynamic,” the Plan says.
This complexity can cause a significant toll on a person’s mental health. The different issues being experienced during the drought all require a certain amount of attention often without any relief, and the extended period of time that this needs to be undertaken for can make it seem hopeless.
Recent years have seen more moves being made to check in on each other’s mental health but it’s clearly still a difficult and stressful event to experience.
The Plan has some troubling predictions for the future of droughts, expecting them to only be “longer, more frequent, and more sever.” By the 2050s the average maximum temperatures are expected to have risen between 1.4 and 1.9 degrees, while rainfall is expected to decrease up to 11 percent. Even these seemingly very small changes can pose huge challenges, and the future of farming will need to figure out how to address these issues.
As the people of this community look ahead, they have no choice but to remain hopeful. It’s the only choice for many of them, but the Bureau of Meteorology have some news that might make the next few months easier. The past few months have seen above average rainfall in the region, which the BOM have predicted will hold strong, with the entire
Barwon area expecting to achieve average or above average rainfall between November and January.
This story is part of a project exploring regional Victoria and the issues farmers are facing. See the whole collection here.
