The last time a July was this dry was during the Millennium Drought 16 years ago.
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Buckajo beef farmer Bruce Blackley said the lack of any decent rainfall through autumn has created what he describes as a “pretty crook" situation for the state’s farming community.
And even with new crops you still need water, nothing grows in dry dirt.
- Buckajo farmer Bruce Blackley
“You never know how long a dry period is going to go on for, which is the real problem," Mr Blackley said.
“You just can’t predict when it will rain, and it’s getting more difficult.
“The key is having a decent autumn, before you get to the normally dry months of July and August, but that hasn’t happened.”
With hay in high demand across the state, as many as 23 semi-trailers loaded with the feed headed east from Western Australia on Monday.
Hay shortages are nothing new, Mr Blackley said, and in the 1980s there was even an attempt to have cheaper hay imported from New Zealand.
The farmer of almost 50 years said governments have been “fobbing off” the effects of climate change on the agriculture sector.
“Research is going into crops adapting to the environment more, but that’s companies taking it seriously,” Mr Blackley said.
“And even with new crops you still need water, nothing grows in dry dirt.”
Eden-Monaro MP Mike Kelly said farmers should be given the option to bring forward their assistance payments, and mitigating climate change should be part of government drought reform.
“We need to follow the science and build sustainability and resilience in a range of ways including helping farmers embrace new technology and best-practice farming methods,” Dr Kelly said.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, July was the driest since 2002, and the month’s rainfall was the lowest on record in parts of NSW, South Australia and “patches in the Goldfields of Western Australia”.
Federal agriculture minister David Littleproud said “owning expensive farm equipment doesn't pay the bills”, when announcing the raising of the Farm Household Allowance net assets cap to $5million, and opening up another 8000 farmers for the payment.