NSW farmers have cause for optimism with drought conditions easing for the sixth month in a row.
NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald announced last week that December figures show 18 per cent of NSW is drought declared, down from 27 per cent last month. And 51 per cent of NSW is now satisfactory, up from 33 per cent last month.
But he warned against premature celebrations.
"We are now heading into the hot summer and with total dam storage levels still only at 56.8 per cent across the state it is still to early to declare the big dry over," he said.
Farmer Alan Brown from the NSW Farmers' Association told The Epoch Times that he was optimistic that weather conditions were moving into a wetter phase.
"I have no doubt that climate change is an issue, but you can't blame what's happened to us exclusively on climate change, it's just been a dry series of years," Mr Brown said.
"There's no doubt that weather goes in cycles, and up to a decade is a cycle, and we've certainly been through a dry decade, but there are indications now that we're returning to what you call a more normal phase where it will go wetter again."
But Mr Brown says that it will be a long path to recovery. While farmers are harvesting grains and putting away large amounts of fodder, the returns are not yet flowing in, and many are battling huge debts.
He cites one farmer he knows in West Wyalong who maintained a manageable overdraft of $60,000 four years ago, which has since ballooned to one million dollars.
"Those people are going to struggle because once interest becomes a significant cost on its own, it's a drag on the enterprise, so they have to peddle quite fast, if you like, just to stand still, just to pay interest. If they can't make progress on wearing down their debt, well, they're going to struggle long term."
"And it becomes a psychological problem. We're seeing mental health problems on the increase right across the farming community. And certainly mental health awareness has become a big issue, because farmers are struggling. And it's a constant pressure that doesn't let up."
"The manifestation we see too much of is suicide. The suicide rate in the country is much higher than it is in the city."
However he says some positive things have come out of the drought, in particular the Federal Government becoming much more receptive to farmers' concerns. In particular, the criteria for the government to provide Exceptional Circumstances (EC) assistance have been eased.
"They've liberalised the EC provisions greatly, I mean they've taken the brakes off a lot, so a lot more people are able to access the EC.
"That's what's keeping a lot of farmers going at the moment. EC's been a very, very big help to many, many farmers."
With AAP
Feeds