As I write this the rain is falling gently across the farm. When it stops, I will venture out to measure the amount, but at this point it looks like a good 20-30mm. The farm looks a picture at the moment. Green, cool, Very nice. But it is not always this way. The picture below is of the 1982 drought on our farm. The water truck, the bare paddocks… It only lasted a year and it was tough. But the ‘millennium drought’ we had from 2002-2007 was worse. I couldn’t come at showing you pictures of it. It came at the time when Jenny and I had just brought out the farm from my parents, just as we had taken a big financial step. I still wakeup at night I hoping I never see another drought like it in my lifetime.
So why do a blog item on drought in Australian agriculture, when it is raining? Well in my opinion, that is the best time to consider the whole drought issue and how we as an industry and as the Australian society deal with its occurrence. Trying to work out drought policy in the middle of a drought is the worst time – imho.
But the title… the Drought Dance? Well bear with me….
Agriculture is a bit like a school dance people of my generation attended. Lots of people sat around the edge of the hall – boys one side, girls the other – Joking, talking about what they might do or how others should do it. The brave ones would go out to the dance floor. But who would you ask to dance? Would they say yes? How many songs do you dance for? Choices, always trying to navigate the complex world of being a teenager. Life was never simple and there were winners and losers.
And when a popular song came on there was a rush to get a partner and get dancing. But if you took too long, by the time you got out there, the good song would end and you got stuck out there during the dreaded slow song….
Well agriculture is like that. There are a myriad of people that sit on the sidelines. Everyone has their own plan. Getting farmers going in one direction must be like herding cats. Add to that experts with advice, exporters looking for opportunities, politicians looking for good PR, Naysayers looking for faults in everything. Some know what they are talking about, some just like talking. Others don’t talk, they just get on with it.
When the good season ‘song’ is on – some rush on to the dance floor that is running a farm in Australia. Others wait before they commit, hoping to pick the cycle. But when we get to the ‘farming dance floor’ we look for machinery manufacturers to dance with, banks to dance with, grain buyers to dance with. Politicians too, like to have a dance with the well dressed farmers. Its fun and everyone likes the music.
But you know that the good season song will end. Then the slow, un-danceable drought song starts to play and everyone begins to looking at their watch. Banks look for prettier dancing partners, politicians get distracted by the supper table, machinery manufacturers loose interest when you don’t want to buy anything. So most farmers hang on in there dancing by themselves, hoping the undanceable song will end soon and better songs will be just around the corner.
And how do we deal with the undanceable drought ‘song’ when one such song is followed by another, and another?
And that is farming. Good years will come. They are great – the best of them, really great. But drought years will also come. They are bad – the worst of them, really bad. But thats life and everyone knows it.
However, as the drought ‘song’ goes on and on, stories of hardship and desperation emerge. And to this date, no one has been able to tell me how to run a business which incurrs all of the yearly expenses and no income during a drought. One year is ok, but when it goes on? What then? And society, what do we do? Do we help? Do we criticise? Calls for government assistance emerge to the cheers of support from the farming community and the howls of protest from critics.
And if that all sounds a bit unprofessional and chaotic for one of Australia’s largest export industries, then I’m glad the point has been made. It is! And its not just drought policy. We should all know what all of the agricultural policies and frameworks from our government are, but we dont. Do we want Agriculture to continue as it is? Do we want agriculture to be corporatized by large overseas companies who can ride out the ups and downs? Do we want Australian farms operated by Australian farmers – knowing that they don’t have the deep pockets of multinational companies do? What about the ownership of farming land? Is it OK for foreign companies to own more of Australia than Australians? At this point we currently have no working, consistent Agricultural strategy for the industry – just a collection of different states, opinions and personalities which produce unimplemented or unworkable policies. It is a poor indictment of the state of our agricultural policies.
But as far as having a drought policy is concerned, the question must first be asked. If drought is part of the great ‘circle of life’ why do we need as drought assistance policy at all? I have heard critics say, ‘Shouldn’t farmers be able to cope with drought?’ And ‘If they don’t have the money to survive, does that mean they unviable and should leave the industry anyway? Its sad, but life is tough… sorry.’
And I can understand that point of view to a degree. But we can be fickle in how we apply that rationalism. If drought is a part of life and no assistance is warranted, do we apply the same for health care? ‘Sorry you have cancer, but sickness is just part of life – we all know that. So if you can’t afford treatment…. well, life is tough…. sorry.’
Or perhaps we should consider unemployment. ‘Sorry you lost your job, but unemployment is just part of employment. So if you have a young family and you can’t afford to put food on the table…. well, life is tough… sorry.’
Or perhaps bush fires. ‘Sorry you lost your house, but you choose to live in amongst all those trees. So if you couldn’t afford insurance and have lost everything…. well, life is tough… sorry.’
What about floods, disability, social security and education? Thankfully, in Australia we do care. We do want to help people through tough times. It makes us a better society in my opinion.
Now some may say that my comparisons are not fair – my examples have been about individuals in our society and in relation to drought, we are talking about a whole industry. My response to that is that in term of Australian agriculture, we should be looking at individuals! Thats what the industry is made up of – individuals and its a lie to look at it from any other point of view. There may be very valid reasons why people haven’t the financial resources to cope with a drought. But unless we look at the individual cases, we will never know.
And if you ever hear of people under hardship getting financial assistance and think ‘lucky them – money for nothing’, I don’t know what to say…. Perhaps you should try it from the other side some time. I don’t know any farmer that says ‘Can’t wait for that next drought… Think of the free government assistance!’
So when you read a story about drought related issues, take a moment to look behind the headlines and the plethora of social media commentators. Because behind the generalisations, stereotypes and ignorant comments surrounding the issue, there are real people who deserve their story to be heard in our national conversation.
Drought policy should be about helping people through tough times, until better times return. In my opinion, it is that simple.