Farm leaders call for agriculture minister to prioritise drought-ridden regions

The Advertiser

12-05-2025

Farm groups are intensifying calls for the incoming federal agriculture minister to make drought a number one priority as seasonal and operating conditions continue to deteriorate across multiple states.
A growing number of farmers in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania are facing one of the worst droughts on record, with little relief predicted at least until the end of May.
Regions across South Australia are already recording record low rainfall, while parts of Tasmania, western Victoria and south-west New South Wales are enduring tinder dry spells.
Producers across the four states are increasingly being forced to ship in water, hay and grain, while southern livestock markets are being inundated with animals some can no longer afford to tend.
Farm groups have been calling for greater drought support from state governments for two years to cover things like increased water, freight and other input costs and, increasingly, for federal intervention.
Grain Producers SA chief executive Brad Perry said while the organisation has previously invited Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to visit drought-affected farmers in South Australia, "with her re-appointment, we are extending the invite once again".
"We congratulate the minister on being back in the Ag portfolio and we need her to see the impact the drought is having on the South Australian grain industry firsthand," he said.
"After the driest 16-month period in living memory in SA, our growers will need every bit of support to get through one of the toughest years we are likely to ever face."
The Albanese government has set aside $67 million to the next phase of the Regional Drought Resilience Planning program, part of the $520 million Future Drought Fund and progressed work on a drought plan to support farmers through the cycle of preparing for, managing, and recovering from drought and signed the National Drought Agreement 2024 to 2029 with state and territory governments.
However, producers remain asking what it can do to provide immediate relief?
In a statement released following her reappointment on May 12, Ms Collins promised Australia's farmers and producers that "I will never stop listening and engaging with you" to "be a true representative for you in the Albanese Labor Government".
"This is especially important now as some farmers and producers across the country face difficult circumstances, including drier conditions and recent weather events," she said.
NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin echoed Mr Perry's call in asking that Ms Collins visit the most heavily-impacted dry areas across Australia.
"Getting out into drought-affected regions and speaking with the farmers and communities living through these conditions should be the first order of business for our federal agriculture minister once our new government is formed," he said.
"Farmers know how to manage risk and prepare for dry periods, but our federal government needs to see firsthand how the support of practical, long-term initiatives to grow farm businesses is essential to getting through these difficult times.
"Farmers should not be feeling forgotten in this drought - nor should they have nowhere to turn to get the advice and tools they need to get through the reality of business in a tough landscape."
Two sales in Victoria last week saw unusually high volumes go through the yards, in Leongatha with 4000 head and Yea, 3000, related to the ongoing dry with areas like Gippsland in Victoria, an area that usually provides feed and growth in abundance during autumn, currently lacking both.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking also hopes Labor leaders will visit the state and offer meaningful support after neither Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Coalition leader Peter Dutton visited drought-affected farms during the campaign.
"No one went and visited the farmers with no water in their dams, the ones suffering drought for 18 months and wondering what this cropping season will look like for them," he said.
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said there were already two drought-declared local government areas within his electorate of Riverina in southern NSW.
"It is really worrying our farmers, all I got at pre-polls over the last two weeks was how dry it was," the Nationals MP said.
"Our cattle and sheep cannot live on dust and nor can our farmers, and I hope that this incoming government acknowledges that we are potentially heading into drought.
"But you look at much of regional NSW and Victoria in a long dry spell, and there is no regional funding."
Dan Tehan, the federal member for Wannon in western Victoria, backed calls for urgent state funding and said the Coalition planned to assess the potential delivery of more water infrastructure for the long-term future of the regions if electd.
"Our farmers need immediate relief and we have to look at using national water grid funding for the long-term water needs of our region," he said.
He also said farmers needed to see action to address the outcomes of the recent reviews into the RIC and FDF drought hubs, "so these can be the effective tools we need, so we can invest, prepare, and properly manage for drought on-farm."
In early April, the South Australian government announced a wide-ranging $55 million drought support package for South Australian farmers.
It included measures like on-farm infrastructure grants, emergency service levy and vehicle registration rebates, investments in regional water standpipes, bulk water provision, pest culling programs to tackle grazing pressure, as well as several measures targeted at regional communities.
However, things will likely get worse before better with the state's prolonged dry spell now setting unwanted records.
BOM data reveals Tanunda, in the normally verdant Barossa Valley, has received just 266mm for the year to the end of April, a staggering 273mm below its long-term mean.
The lowest rainfall recorded for the period in the 123 years of data collection at the local weather station is a story playing out across the state.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced a $13.5m drought package focusing on 12 local government areas in the south-west, but United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free called on it to ramp up drought support for desperate farmers in the May 20 state budget.
The National Farmers Federation has also called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "get boots on the ground" to witness what farmers were battling.
"It's what farmers and drought-affected communities deserve," NFF president David Jochinke said.
"Drought dries up more than land. It drains local economies, family budgets and wellbeing. It's not just farmers who feel it, it's entire rural and regional communities."
The NFF said while Australia had "well-established drought policy frameworks" at the Commonwealth level, it is imperative they remain responsive to changing conditions and work in tandem with support packages at the state level.
Meanwhile, farmers are well-known for initiative and Suzie Kenny, a farmer based in South Australia's Streaky Bay and wellness coach, has come up a #SaveOurSheep campaign.
"We are well-prepared in this area for droughts but the fact this is happening for so long is very, very unusual," she said.
"It does not look we will see a break in the next few weeks so it will be June at the earliest before there is any paddock feed."
Ms Kenny said in 2024 the area recorded just 104mm for the year, a fraction of its 325mm average rainfall.
Farm groups are intensifying calls for the incoming federal agriculture minister to make drought a number one priority as seasonal and operating conditions continue to deteriorate across multiple states.
A growing number of farmers in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania are facing one of the worst droughts on record, with little relief predicted at least until the end of May.
Regions across South Australia are already recording record low rainfall, while parts of Tasmania, western Victoria and south-west New South Wales are enduring tinder dry spells.
Producers across the four states are increasingly being forced to ship in water, hay and grain, while southern livestock markets are being inundated with animals some can no longer afford to tend.
Farm groups have been calling for greater drought support from state governments for two years to cover things like increased water, freight and other input costs and, increasingly, for federal intervention.
Grain Producers SA chief executive Brad Perry said while the organisation has previously invited Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to visit drought-affected farmers in South Australia, "with her re-appointment, we are extending the invite once again".
"We congratulate the minister on being back in the Ag portfolio and we need her to see the impact the drought is having on the South Australian grain industry firsthand," he said.
"After the driest 16-month period in living memory in SA, our growers will need every bit of support to get through one of the toughest years we are likely to ever face."
The Albanese government has set aside $67 million to the next phase of the Regional Drought Resilience Planning program, part of the $520 million Future Drought Fund and progressed work on a drought plan to support farmers through the cycle of preparing for, managing, and recovering from drought and signed the National Drought Agreement 2024 to 2029 with state and territory governments.
However, producers remain asking what it can do to provide immediate relief?
In a statement released following her reappointment on May 12, Ms Collins promised Australia's farmers and producers that "I will never stop listening and engaging with you" to "be a true representative for you in the Albanese Labor Government".
"This is especially important now as some farmers and producers across the country face difficult circumstances, including drier conditions and recent weather events," she said.
NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin echoed Mr Perry's call in asking that Ms Collins visit the most heavily-impacted dry areas across Australia.
"Getting out into drought-affected regions and speaking with the farmers and communities living through these conditions should be the first order of business for our federal agriculture minister once our new government is formed," he said.
"Farmers know how to manage risk and prepare for dry periods, but our federal government needs to see firsthand how the support of practical, long-term initiatives to grow farm businesses is essential to getting through these difficult times.
"Farmers should not be feeling forgotten in this drought - nor should they have nowhere to turn to get the advice and tools they need to get through the reality of business in a tough landscape."
Two sales in Victoria last week saw unusually high volumes go through the yards, in Leongatha with 4000 head and Yea, 3000, related to the ongoing dry with areas like Gippsland in Victoria, an area that usually provides feed and growth in abundance during autumn, currently lacking both.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking also hopes Labor leaders will visit the state and offer meaningful support after neither Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Coalition leader Peter Dutton visited drought-affected farms during the campaign.
"No one went and visited the farmers with no water in their dams, the ones suffering drought for 18 months and wondering what this cropping season will look like for them," he said.
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said there were already two drought-declared local government areas within his electorate of Riverina in southern NSW.
"It is really worrying our farmers, all I got at pre-polls over the last two weeks was how dry it was," the Nationals MP said.
"Our cattle and sheep cannot live on dust and nor can our farmers, and I hope that this incoming government acknowledges that we are potentially heading into drought.
"But you look at much of regional NSW and Victoria in a long dry spell, and there is no regional funding."
Dan Tehan, the federal member for Wannon in western Victoria, backed calls for urgent state funding and said the Coalition planned to assess the potential delivery of more water infrastructure for the long-term future of the regions if electd.
"Our farmers need immediate relief and we have to look at using national water grid funding for the long-term water needs of our region," he said.
He also said farmers needed to see action to address the outcomes of the recent reviews into the RIC and FDF drought hubs, "so these can be the effective tools we need, so we can invest, prepare, and properly manage for drought on-farm."
In early April, the South Australian government announced a wide-ranging $55 million drought support package for South Australian farmers.
It included measures like on-farm infrastructure grants, emergency service levy and vehicle registration rebates, investments in regional water standpipes, bulk water provision, pest culling programs to tackle grazing pressure, as well as several measures targeted at regional communities.
However, things will likely get worse before better with the state's prolonged dry spell now setting unwanted records.
BOM data reveals Tanunda, in the normally verdant Barossa Valley, has received just 266mm for the year to the end of April, a staggering 273mm below its long-term mean.
The lowest rainfall recorded for the period in the 123 years of data collection at the local weather station is a story playing out across the state.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced a $13.5m drought package focusing on 12 local government areas in the south-west, but United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free called on it to ramp up drought support for desperate farmers in the May 20 state budget.
The National Farmers Federation has also called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "get boots on the ground" to witness what farmers were battling.
"It's what farmers and drought-affected communities deserve," NFF president David Jochinke said.
"Drought dries up more than land. It drains local economies, family budgets and wellbeing. It's not just farmers who feel it, it's entire rural and regional communities."
The NFF said while Australia had "well-established drought policy frameworks" at the Commonwealth level, it is imperative they remain responsive to changing conditions and work in tandem with support packages at the state level.
Meanwhile, farmers are well-known for initiative and Suzie Kenny, a farmer based in South Australia's Streaky Bay and wellness coach, has come up a #SaveOurSheep campaign.
"We are well-prepared in this area for droughts but the fact this is happening for so long is very, very unusual," she said.
"It does not look we will see a break in the next few weeks so it will be June at the earliest before there is any paddock feed."
Ms Kenny said in 2024 the area recorded just 104mm for the year, a fraction of its 325mm average rainfall.
Farm groups are intensifying calls for the incoming federal agriculture minister to make drought a number one priority as seasonal and operating conditions continue to deteriorate across multiple states.
A growing number of farmers in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania are facing one of the worst droughts on record, with little relief predicted at least until the end of May.
Regions across South Australia are already recording record low rainfall, while parts of Tasmania, western Victoria and south-west New South Wales are enduring tinder dry spells.
Producers across the four states are increasingly being forced to ship in water, hay and grain, while southern livestock markets are being inundated with animals some can no longer afford to tend.
Farm groups have been calling for greater drought support from state governments for two years to cover things like increased water, freight and other input costs and, increasingly, for federal intervention.
Grain Producers SA chief executive Brad Perry said while the organisation has previously invited Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to visit drought-affected farmers in South Australia, "with her re-appointment, we are extending the invite once again".
"We congratulate the minister on being back in the Ag portfolio and we need her to see the impact the drought is having on the South Australian grain industry firsthand," he said.
"After the driest 16-month period in living memory in SA, our growers will need every bit of support to get through one of the toughest years we are likely to ever face."
The Albanese government has set aside $67 million to the next phase of the Regional Drought Resilience Planning program, part of the $520 million Future Drought Fund and progressed work on a drought plan to support farmers through the cycle of preparing for, managing, and recovering from drought and signed the National Drought Agreement 2024 to 2029 with state and territory governments.
However, producers remain asking what it can do to provide immediate relief?
In a statement released following her reappointment on May 12, Ms Collins promised Australia's farmers and producers that "I will never stop listening and engaging with you" to "be a true representative for you in the Albanese Labor Government".
"This is especially important now as some farmers and producers across the country face difficult circumstances, including drier conditions and recent weather events," she said.
NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin echoed Mr Perry's call in asking that Ms Collins visit the most heavily-impacted dry areas across Australia.
"Getting out into drought-affected regions and speaking with the farmers and communities living through these conditions should be the first order of business for our federal agriculture minister once our new government is formed," he said.
"Farmers know how to manage risk and prepare for dry periods, but our federal government needs to see firsthand how the support of practical, long-term initiatives to grow farm businesses is essential to getting through these difficult times.
"Farmers should not be feeling forgotten in this drought - nor should they have nowhere to turn to get the advice and tools they need to get through the reality of business in a tough landscape."
Two sales in Victoria last week saw unusually high volumes go through the yards, in Leongatha with 4000 head and Yea, 3000, related to the ongoing dry with areas like Gippsland in Victoria, an area that usually provides feed and growth in abundance during autumn, currently lacking both.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking also hopes Labor leaders will visit the state and offer meaningful support after neither Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Coalition leader Peter Dutton visited drought-affected farms during the campaign.
"No one went and visited the farmers with no water in their dams, the ones suffering drought for 18 months and wondering what this cropping season will look like for them," he said.
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said there were already two drought-declared local government areas within his electorate of Riverina in southern NSW.
"It is really worrying our farmers, all I got at pre-polls over the last two weeks was how dry it was," the Nationals MP said.
"Our cattle and sheep cannot live on dust and nor can our farmers, and I hope that this incoming government acknowledges that we are potentially heading into drought.
"But you look at much of regional NSW and Victoria in a long dry spell, and there is no regional funding."
Dan Tehan, the federal member for Wannon in western Victoria, backed calls for urgent state funding and said the Coalition planned to assess the potential delivery of more water infrastructure for the long-term future of the regions if electd.
"Our farmers need immediate relief and we have to look at using national water grid funding for the long-term water needs of our region," he said.
He also said farmers needed to see action to address the outcomes of the recent reviews into the RIC and FDF drought hubs, "so these can be the effective tools we need, so we can invest, prepare, and properly manage for drought on-farm."
In early April, the South Australian government announced a wide-ranging $55 million drought support package for South Australian farmers.
It included measures like on-farm infrastructure grants, emergency service levy and vehicle registration rebates, investments in regional water standpipes, bulk water provision, pest culling programs to tackle grazing pressure, as well as several measures targeted at regional communities.
However, things will likely get worse before better with the state's prolonged dry spell now setting unwanted records.
BOM data reveals Tanunda, in the normally verdant Barossa Valley, has received just 266mm for the year to the end of April, a staggering 273mm below its long-term mean.
The lowest rainfall recorded for the period in the 123 years of data collection at the local weather station is a story playing out across the state.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced a $13.5m drought package focusing on 12 local government areas in the south-west, but United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free called on it to ramp up drought support for desperate farmers in the May 20 state budget.
The National Farmers Federation has also called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "get boots on the ground" to witness what farmers were battling.
"It's what farmers and drought-affected communities deserve," NFF president David Jochinke said.
"Drought dries up more than land. It drains local economies, family budgets and wellbeing. It's not just farmers who feel it, it's entire rural and regional communities."
The NFF said while Australia had "well-established drought policy frameworks" at the Commonwealth level, it is imperative they remain responsive to changing conditions and work in tandem with support packages at the state level.
Meanwhile, farmers are well-known for initiative and Suzie Kenny, a farmer based in South Australia's Streaky Bay and wellness coach, has come up a #SaveOurSheep campaign.
"We are well-prepared in this area for droughts but the fact this is happening for so long is very, very unusual," she said.
"It does not look we will see a break in the next few weeks so it will be June at the earliest before there is any paddock feed."
Ms Kenny said in 2024 the area recorded just 104mm for the year, a fraction of its 325mm average rainfall.
Farm groups are intensifying calls for the incoming federal agriculture minister to make drought a number one priority as seasonal and operating conditions continue to deteriorate across multiple states.
A growing number of farmers in parts of South Australia, Victoria, NSW and Tasmania are facing one of the worst droughts on record, with little relief predicted at least until the end of May.
Regions across South Australia are already recording record low rainfall, while parts of Tasmania, western Victoria and south-west New South Wales are enduring tinder dry spells.
Producers across the four states are increasingly being forced to ship in water, hay and grain, while southern livestock markets are being inundated with animals some can no longer afford to tend.
Farm groups have been calling for greater drought support from state governments for two years to cover things like increased water, freight and other input costs and, increasingly, for federal intervention.
Grain Producers SA chief executive Brad Perry said while the organisation has previously invited Agriculture Minister Julie Collins to visit drought-affected farmers in South Australia, "with her re-appointment, we are extending the invite once again".
"We congratulate the minister on being back in the Ag portfolio and we need her to see the impact the drought is having on the South Australian grain industry firsthand," he said.
"After the driest 16-month period in living memory in SA, our growers will need every bit of support to get through one of the toughest years we are likely to ever face."
The Albanese government has set aside $67 million to the next phase of the Regional Drought Resilience Planning program, part of the $520 million Future Drought Fund and progressed work on a drought plan to support farmers through the cycle of preparing for, managing, and recovering from drought and signed the National Drought Agreement 2024 to 2029 with state and territory governments.
However, producers remain asking what it can do to provide immediate relief?
In a statement released following her reappointment on May 12, Ms Collins promised Australia's farmers and producers that "I will never stop listening and engaging with you" to "be a true representative for you in the Albanese Labor Government".
"This is especially important now as some farmers and producers across the country face difficult circumstances, including drier conditions and recent weather events," she said.
NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin echoed Mr Perry's call in asking that Ms Collins visit the most heavily-impacted dry areas across Australia.
"Getting out into drought-affected regions and speaking with the farmers and communities living through these conditions should be the first order of business for our federal agriculture minister once our new government is formed," he said.
"Farmers know how to manage risk and prepare for dry periods, but our federal government needs to see firsthand how the support of practical, long-term initiatives to grow farm businesses is essential to getting through these difficult times.
"Farmers should not be feeling forgotten in this drought - nor should they have nowhere to turn to get the advice and tools they need to get through the reality of business in a tough landscape."
Two sales in Victoria last week saw unusually high volumes go through the yards, in Leongatha with 4000 head and Yea, 3000, related to the ongoing dry with areas like Gippsland in Victoria, an area that usually provides feed and growth in abundance during autumn, currently lacking both.
Victorian Farmers Federation president Brett Hosking also hopes Labor leaders will visit the state and offer meaningful support after neither Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or Coalition leader Peter Dutton visited drought-affected farms during the campaign.
"No one went and visited the farmers with no water in their dams, the ones suffering drought for 18 months and wondering what this cropping season will look like for them," he said.
Meanwhile, former deputy prime minister Michael McCormack said there were already two drought-declared local government areas within his electorate of Riverina in southern NSW.
"It is really worrying our farmers, all I got at pre-polls over the last two weeks was how dry it was," the Nationals MP said.
"Our cattle and sheep cannot live on dust and nor can our farmers, and I hope that this incoming government acknowledges that we are potentially heading into drought.
"But you look at much of regional NSW and Victoria in a long dry spell, and there is no regional funding."
Dan Tehan, the federal member for Wannon in western Victoria, backed calls for urgent state funding and said the Coalition planned to assess the potential delivery of more water infrastructure for the long-term future of the regions if electd.
"Our farmers need immediate relief and we have to look at using national water grid funding for the long-term water needs of our region," he said.
He also said farmers needed to see action to address the outcomes of the recent reviews into the RIC and FDF drought hubs, "so these can be the effective tools we need, so we can invest, prepare, and properly manage for drought on-farm."
In early April, the South Australian government announced a wide-ranging $55 million drought support package for South Australian farmers.
It included measures like on-farm infrastructure grants, emergency service levy and vehicle registration rebates, investments in regional water standpipes, bulk water provision, pest culling programs to tackle grazing pressure, as well as several measures targeted at regional communities.
However, things will likely get worse before better with the state's prolonged dry spell now setting unwanted records.
BOM data reveals Tanunda, in the normally verdant Barossa Valley, has received just 266mm for the year to the end of April, a staggering 273mm below its long-term mean.
The lowest rainfall recorded for the period in the 123 years of data collection at the local weather station is a story playing out across the state.
Meanwhile, the Victorian government has announced a $13.5m drought package focusing on 12 local government areas in the south-west, but United Dairy Farmers of Victoria president Bernie Free called on it to ramp up drought support for desperate farmers in the May 20 state budget.
The National Farmers Federation has also called on Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to "get boots on the ground" to witness what farmers were battling.
"It's what farmers and drought-affected communities deserve," NFF president David Jochinke said.
"Drought dries up more than land. It drains local economies, family budgets and wellbeing. It's not just farmers who feel it, it's entire rural and regional communities."
The NFF said while Australia had "well-established drought policy frameworks" at the Commonwealth level, it is imperative they remain responsive to changing conditions and work in tandem with support packages at the state level.
Meanwhile, farmers are well-known for initiative and Suzie Kenny, a farmer based in South Australia's Streaky Bay and wellness coach, has come up a #SaveOurSheep campaign.
"We are well-prepared in this area for droughts but the fact this is happening for so long is very, very unusual," she said.
"It does not look we will see a break in the next few weeks so it will be June at the earliest before there is any paddock feed."
Ms Kenny said in 2024 the area recorded just 104mm for the year, a fraction of its 325mm average rainfall.