No harvest, no income, no relief for drought affected farmers

DROUGHT conditions across NSW are worsening.

And as the outlook for rain over spring is looking increasingly dire, farmers are facing the prospect of having to sell more livestock and the fact they won’t have a crop to harvest this year.

The latest figures from the NSW Department of Primary Industries show 100 per cent of the state is in drought, with more than 20 per cent in intense drought.

During the last month less than 10mm of rain was recorded in the western, north west and central areas of NSW.

NSW Farmers’ Association president James Jackson, a mixed farmer from Guyra in northern NSW, said conditions across New South Wales were worse than the 1902 drought.

“A drought like this has ramifications right across our industry,” Mr Jackson said.

He said while livestock producers were trying to secure feed, there hadn’t been a lot of crops planted.

“For those crop farmers they have no potential income until November or December next year.

“For those in the south and for the northern crop areas where a summer crop is an option, they’ll have no income until at least March,” Mr Jackson said.

Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Felicity Gamble said the January-to-July period for the Murray Darling Basin was the third driest since records began in 1900 and the fourth driest across New South Wales as a whole.

Australian Fodder Industry Association chairman Frank McRae said there’s “pretty much no fodder in New South Wales”.

“It’s a real crunch time and I can’t see any reprieve.”