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| "I find droughts a little bit like cancer—it sort of eats away at you," one farmer said. Newsweek |
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| Scenes at the Jerry family farm, located 25 miles outside Coonabarabran. The New South Wales State government recently approved an emergency drought relief package of A$600m, of which at least A$250m is allocated for low-interest loans to assist eligible farm businesses to recover. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
From ground level, Australia's drought looks like a featureless brown dustbowl. However, from the air it transforms into a gallery of color and texture as the land cracks open under a blazing sun.
Circular dry plow-tracks resemble the concentric circles in First Nation dot paintings that tell of an ancient mythology, while starving cattle queuing for feed look like an abstract painting with their black shadows stretching across the land.
But for Ashley Whitney there is no such beauty, just blood, sweat and tears as he struggles to feed his cattle, cutting the drying branches of Kurrajong trees—a last resort during the worst of droughts.
A despairing Whitney said the drought feels like it could be around for a while. His property—near the town of Gunnedah on the Liverpool Plains—is usually fertile plain, but has now withered after receiving the lowest average rainfall in more than 25 years.
Cattle farmers Margo and Tom Wollaston are afraid of what this drought will mean for their children, who aim to take over the running of the 5,600-acre property when they "hang up their boots".
Margo said droughts have a very negative impact not only on her family, but the whole farming community around the nearby town of Tamworth in northwest New South Wales (NSW) state.
"I find droughts a little bit like cancer — it sort of eats away at you," she said.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said parts of Australia experienced the second-warmest summer (December-February) on record in the past year and had also just been through one of the driest and warmest autumns (March-May) on record.
Still, for the farmers struggling to water their charges, the dry spell—which has left over 80 percent of NSW in drought according to Department of Primary Industries—looks to be a prolonged and dusty road.
We’ve collected the most powerful images from the droughts, which show farmers’ helplessness in the face of natural disaster—even one as slow-burning as a drought. With global temperatures rising, it looks likely scenes such as these will become a regular occurrence in rural Australia.
—Reuters contributed to this report
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| Farmer Ash Whitney stands in the middle of a dried-up dam in a drought-affected paddock on his property located west of the town of Gunnedah in New South Wales, Australia in June 2018. "I have been here all my life, and this drought is feeling like it will be around a while," said Whitney. Reuters/David Gray |
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| Harry Taylor, 6, plays with the bones of dead livestock on the Taylor family farm. Many locals are calling the drought the worst since 1902. In Warrumbungle Shire, where sharp peaks fall away to once fertile farmland the small town of Coonabarabran is running out of water. The town dam is down to just 23% capacity, forcing residents to live with level six water restrictions. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| A kangaroo casts a shadow as it drinks from a water tank located in a paddock on farmer Ash Whitney's property in New South Wales. Now with the real prospect of a dry El-Nino weather pattern hitting the state in Spring, the longer term outlook for rain here is dire. Reuters/David Gray |
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| A sheep to weak to eat a feed of cottonseed on the Jerry family farm. The New South Wales State’s emergency drought relief package has been welcomed, though in the words of a local farmer "it barely touches the sides". Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| Farmer May McKeown feeds her remaining cattle on her property in the town of Walgett, in New South Wales. Farmers in the region have been forced to import almost all of their livestock’s food, and prices are rising with demand. Reuters/David Gray |
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| Farmer Ash Whitney stands on the back of his truck as he throws out hay to his cattle in a paddock on his property located west of the town of Gunnedah in New South Wales. The government relief package also includes funding for mental health and road repair. Reuters/David Gray |
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| Dead livestock litter the Jerry family farm. A charity organization, Buy a Bale, is stepping in to help farmers source hay. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| A road can be seen next to tracks leading to a water tank on farmer Ash Whitney's property in New South Wales. Rural communities in Australia have a far higher rate of suicide than their urban counterparts, according to a recent paper from the Centre for Rural and Remote Mental Health. Reuters/David Gray |
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| Hiedi and Harry Taylor play in one of the many empty dams on their family farm. Across Australia, total borrowing from banks by farmers has grown to about $53 billion, seven times the level in the early 1990s, according to the Australian Farm Institute. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| Harry Taylor plays on the dust bowl his family farm has become during the drought. The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) says that in the first half of the 20th century, agriculture accounted for around a quarter of Australia’s output and up to 80% of Australia’s exports. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| However, this number is falling fast. There were 19,700 fewer farmers in Australia in 2011 than in 2006, a fall of 11 percent, according to the ABS. Brook Mitchell/Getty Images |
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| Farmer Scott Cooper drops hay for his cattle next to a dried-up creek in New South Wales. The ABS link major droughts to the decline in the farming workforce. The number of farmers shrank by 15 percent in just 12 months during the 2002-03 drought. Reuters/David Gray |
From ground level,
Australia's drought looks like a featureless brown dustbowl. However,
from the air it transforms into a gallery of color and texture as the
land cracks open under a blazing sun.
Circular dry plow-tracks resemble the concentric circles in First Nation dot paintings that tell of an ancient mythology, while starving cattle queuing for feed look like an abstract painting with their black shadows stretching across the land.
But for Ashley Whitney there is no such beauty, just blood, sweat and tears as he struggles to feed his cattle, cutting the drying branches of Kurrajong trees—a last resort during the worst of droughts.
A despairing Whitney said the drought feels like it could be around for a while. His property—near the town of Gunnedah on the Liverpool Plains—is usually fertile plain, but has now withered after receiving the lowest average rainfall in more than 25 years.
Cattle farmers Margo and Tom Wollaston are afraid of what this drought will mean for their children, who aim to take over the running of the 5,600-acre property when they "hang up their boots".
Margo said droughts have a very negative impact not only on her family, but the whole farming community around the nearby town of Tamworth in northwest New South Wales (NSW) state.
"I find droughts a little bit like cancer — it sort of eats away at you," she said.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said parts of Australia experienced the second-warmest summer (December-February) on record in the past year and had also just been through one of the driest and warmest autumns (March-May) on record.
Still, for the farmers struggling to water their charges, the dry spell—which has left over 80 percent of NSW in drought according to Department of Primary Industries—looks to be a prolonged and dusty road.
We’ve collected the most powerful images from the droughts, which show farmers’ helplessness in the face of natural disaster—even one as slow-burning as a drought. With global temperatures rising, it looks likely scenes such as these will become a regular occurrence in rural Australia.
—Reuters contributed to this report
Links
Circular dry plow-tracks resemble the concentric circles in First Nation dot paintings that tell of an ancient mythology, while starving cattle queuing for feed look like an abstract painting with their black shadows stretching across the land.
But for Ashley Whitney there is no such beauty, just blood, sweat and tears as he struggles to feed his cattle, cutting the drying branches of Kurrajong trees—a last resort during the worst of droughts.
A despairing Whitney said the drought feels like it could be around for a while. His property—near the town of Gunnedah on the Liverpool Plains—is usually fertile plain, but has now withered after receiving the lowest average rainfall in more than 25 years.
Cattle farmers Margo and Tom Wollaston are afraid of what this drought will mean for their children, who aim to take over the running of the 5,600-acre property when they "hang up their boots".
Margo said droughts have a very negative impact not only on her family, but the whole farming community around the nearby town of Tamworth in northwest New South Wales (NSW) state.
"I find droughts a little bit like cancer — it sort of eats away at you," she said.
The Australian Bureau of Meteorology said parts of Australia experienced the second-warmest summer (December-February) on record in the past year and had also just been through one of the driest and warmest autumns (March-May) on record.
Still, for the farmers struggling to water their charges, the dry spell—which has left over 80 percent of NSW in drought according to Department of Primary Industries—looks to be a prolonged and dusty road.
We’ve collected the most powerful images from the droughts, which show farmers’ helplessness in the face of natural disaster—even one as slow-burning as a drought. With global temperatures rising, it looks likely scenes such as these will become a regular occurrence in rural Australia.
—Reuters contributed to this report
Links
- Great Southern Drought: Australian Farmers Crippled, Climate Action Stalled
- Domino effect could heat up Earth by 5 degrees Celsius — despite Paris climate deal
- Can Australia's wicked heat wave convince climate change deniers?
- Australia sets modest 2030 emissions target
- Four climate change myths, debunked
- Recent Australian droughts may be the worst in 800 years
- Australian state of New South Wales entirely in drought
- Australia to give millions in aid to drought-hit farmers
- In the eye of the firestorm: Surviving Australia's most extreme bushfire
- Indigenous Australians fight coal and climate change
- India's Adani signs off on controversial Australia coal mine
- 'Worst drought in living memory': Australia's big dry
- Global desert: Drought turning the planet into a tinderbox
- Black Saturday
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