BM
This is a West Wimmera Health Service podcast. Presented by me Brigitte Muir.
This series focuses around stories and issues related to health and wellbeing. Some of the people we hear from are sharing their stories, hoping that their experiences will help us with our own health and wellbeing. Please be aware that some of their life experiences may touch on issues that are sensitive to some. Please listen with care. You will find information on seeking help if you need it in the notes attached to each episode.
*Rain pouring* Oh the sound of rain… something we're hear less and less in our part of the world. How can we deal with less rain? More heat? How can farmers, who depend so much on the weather, mitigate the stresses of climate change? I talked to David Drage, farmer at Lah, near Warracknabeal and key member of the regional climate adaptation group
DD
I’ve been farming here for nearly… 35 years since I finished school. I’m the …what am I? Fourth generation…
BM
Wow
DD
… on this farm and but my family's been farming for… oh well…we can trace our ancestry back to agriculture in United Kingdom in the… early 18th century. So yes, farming’s well and truly in the blood.
BM
We live in a place which is very dry and we're here to talk about climate change. Can the Wimmera get any drier?
DD
Oh it can always get drier, there is absolute zero. *Chuckles* which hopefully we're a long, long, long way off that. But certainly in my… nearly 35 years farming I've seen probably 50 ml disappear off, off our rainfall which still leaves us with 300 ml of rainfall and there's plenty of people have been farming in this country on less rain than that for a long time. But certainly it's… it is challenging. As you know, we basically crossed tipping points of farming methods that we had been used to using
BM
and when, when did you realise that?
DD
Was a… I suppose a slow realisation really. What, what we were referring to at the time was the Millennium drought. I now look back on as… not the Millennium drought. But just that time when that declining rainfall actually crossed the point where it meant we had to look seriously at the way we were doing things because there hasn't been a recovery from it as you would normally expect when you call something a drought
BM
I remember seeing a map once of Australian rainfall and droughts for the last 100 years, and there were times where it was long time dry and then long time wet. This doesn't happen anymore?
DD
No look, I suppose statistically it's the looks like… a period of below average rainfall matching the…the sort of those years from the 1950s through to the 1970s which were above long term average. But closer analysis of the trend shows that the rainfall definitely is falling, probably more so, but not as much realised as that our evaporation rate is climbing that creates massive problems for the area. Like you look at the inflows into the Wimmera River, and you see how much they've declined over the last 20 years and it's a significantly…larger drying out of the environment than just the… reduction of rainfall. So yeah, we certainly are facing a drier scenario that… is not just a short term, period.
BM
Okay, so it's not just less rain, it's also higher temperatures.
DD
Higher temperatures, higher evaporation, and although we are experiencing more frosts it's …higher minimum temperatures, which, which means that we just don't get that break from the hot temperatures. Yes. The more you look at the data that comes from all the weather stations around the area, the more you realise that yes, we definitely are living in a drying environment.
BM
Farming has a lot to do with the weather, and farming has been around for a long time. So I presume that farmers are good at adapting. How can we adapt to these changing conditions?
DD
It's a tough one and it's …probably now that we're drawing more on technology to help us through those changes, and also business management skills to get through. Whereas… I suppose in the past, there wasn't much change in technology, until say 40 years ago, really just machinery was getting bigger and better, but it still did the same thing. Whereas now we are seeing a lot of changes to that technology, which allows us to be more efficient and probably more accurate in what we're doing. But the concept of using GPS to allow… inter-row sowing on say 250 ml row spacing of crop that's something that, even 40 years ago was, we couldn't imagine being able to do that. Yet inter-row sowing around standing stubbles is one of the technologies that made us remain viable… when, when otherwise yields would have fallen below that critical point where we could no longer farm.
BM
Okay, so this is a podcast about farmer’s health…
DD
Yes
BM
…farming family’s health. Yes. Can you tell me if being kind of in control of conditions by having better technology, is the only way to ensure… a sustainable future for farming families and their future decedents?
DD
Well, this is the real… dilemma we face at the moment is… technology is helping us in…the business to stay viable, but it has that negative effect on community, in that you know, being able to do more with less. Being able to… needing to do more and pay less people to assist you… means that the population of the community is decreasing. And we've already reached that point where we no longer have a pool of casual labour to call upon. A major driver now with business expansion is… how do I manage the labour and as a direct effect of that is how are we actually shaping our communities? It's something that there's no answer to yet but it certainly is a problem that's affecting us all.
BM
The kind of agriculture that we have at the moment is something which is reasonably recent. Is there a way to go back to the past, but using today's technology to make it better? I'm talking about having a more varied kind of agriculture, employing more people.
DD
Yeah, look, it's… it'd be like… it'd be nice to think that we could be farming like that but I think unfortunately, our land values have crossed the point where we can't go back to that, or a lot of people are going to have to wear a lot of losses, because in our dry Mediterranean climate to go back to a more labour intensive form of agriculture, seems to also mean lower productivity, in the sense that we seem to judge our productivity by tons of grain exiting the farm, that the premiums don't seem to be there for, say, an organic product or, or likewise, a fully traceable lamb chop we just don't seem to have the economies of scale required to make that work in this, in this area. Ideally, it would be great to think that we could be doing something to employ more people and have better stronger communities and also to reduce the stress levels that many farmers are facing as they try to expand businesses in a high cost environment to try to… stay ahead of the curve.
BM
So what do you see as a solution to all those issues?
DD
It's a very difficult one and unfortunately, we're probably getting very close to that situation… where the solution may… be to look at how much land you remove from agricultural production, regeneration of land back to its pre-agricultural condition, may in 20 to 30 years’ time, be the future for areas of the Northern Wimmera. But then again, that still relies on somebody paying the bills, again, that then comes back to whether the government policy allows it to happen, and does support it for the long term, and give people the… secure income that they desire.
BM
The dire need to survive.
DD
Yes
BM
There is something which is happening at the moment called… Adapt Grampians. Can you tell me about that? It seems to me that's a problem shared… is a problem halved.
DD
Yes. So look Adapt Grampians is a state government funded program which is looking at how communities… can adapt to the changing climate… in which we're all living. It's looking at all the different factors of the Wimmera and Grampians region, and… eventually it will, hopefully …be a go to point where people can look for resources and see what other people are doing to… adapt to the changing climate.
BM
What do you personally… do to adapt to those changing conditions?
DD
On my farm, adapting to climate change… probably started in the early 2000s. We had a serious drought… like proper drought, not just extend the dry time in 2002. There was a number of realisations made then that things had to change… the amount of soil loss, stresses of no income, but what really struck me was just that, that financial stress of how much money was lost in the drought. So… the decision was made to go to a lower cost farming system. Even though sheep do contribute to soil erosion by using stock containment areas and …feeding them through the dry period to keep your core breeding stock. The decision was made to reduce the cropping intensity of the farm. Increase the amount of grazing and… just go forward as a true mixed grain livestock operation, with a lower financial risk in the operation. So for the 20 years, since that's been fine, and it's worked well, but 2021 has definitely thrown a spanner in the works as for our immediate area, we were only one rainfall event off being another proper crop failure field drought.
Survival plan was enacted back in… late May, early June, we were about half a sheep left. And I think that probably in itself… is part of how you handle the stresses of droughts is making sure you have that plan in place and when the trigger events occur, such as you got to the first week of June, and you still haven't had a single drop of rain for three months, that you do lease those sheep that are in… you've kept in good condition, in a stock containment area and you sell them, so you’re keeping the farm in a financial and physical condition toward recovery when the… when the change does eventuate.
BM
And so that means a lot less stress on yourself and your family.
DD
Yes, and… there is nothing looks better than seeing those sheep your love disappear on a truck and you know, you don't have to feed them the next day and the next day and the next day. By keeping them in good condition, they've gone to a good home, hopefully, the next person makes as much money out of them as you have and you don't have the stresses.
BM
Do you also talk with other farmers about these issues and how you deal with them at the pub or other places?
DD
Well, unfortunately COVID threw a spanner in those works as well. But…
BM
Of course
DD
…mobile phone coverage is good here now, so yeah, there's a lot of long phone calls with people… from time to time. And that's one thing I think as a community we are …very open to these issues. And… if we feel a farmer, maybe struggling, like we haven't seen them or next time we talk to them, they're in a very negative place and what they're saying, we discuss it, not in a negative way, but in a positive way. Well, if you see so and so, just see how they’re going and we are all looking out for ourselves. We are very small community now, and that's just what we have to do. And we do, do it.
BM
It’s the only way forward really, I mean, once again, that's something that used to happen everywhere. And perhaps because we live in the country, it's more open to us. It's more available, we can reach out to our community.
DD
Well it's…it’s very different now, like if you go back to my grandparents generation, well, there was always …events going on every weekend at country halls. There was a lot more… sporting activity all year round, little country towns that now don't even have their hall and there's nothing there. They used to field football and tennis teams and there's a lot of travel now and involved in community sport and a lot of people can’t participate in it due to the costs and… time commitment that it involves. But we still want to retain that sense of community we do have, because none of us want to be just living on our four/five thousand acres and not seeing anyone, not doing anything, and we are trying our hardest to keep what community is left functioning
BM
and getting back to… climate adaptation, what would you tell people about it as far as… yeah, things are changing. And we have to look at doing things a little bit differently one step at a time. What would be the first step to take?
DD
The …the first step, I …always think is acknowledgement. To acknowledge that things are changing… and that…. you need to be looking out there and seeing what, what you could be doing, or what you might be doing in five years’ time to adapt to, the changing trend. Once you acknowledge it, then have a look at the data, analyse the figures and see the trend that we're on… and then work out how you're going to sort your way through it. There's a number of… apps and websites out there which give modelling… of what your environment may look like in 30-50 years’ time. You know, I’ve looked at those a few times and …we're basically on a trajectory… to be on a similar climate to Condobolin’s in New South Wales. And admittedly they're a bit hit and miss… probably their crop failures every second year, but you know, we live out. I know farmers who farm quite successfully in that area, farm in a very different way to me, but the reality is, you can survive in that climate. They're already where you will probably be in 30 years’ time, so you know they're surviving. And you realise, well, just another challenge. It's not it's not a threat. It's, it's not going to destroy you, but enjoy the journey. I mean, you can get upset about it… and wish for the old days to be back …and things to be how they were but the reality of that just isn't there.
BM
Is there anything else that you would like to tell people?
DD
Don't put your head in the sand on this issue. Climate change is occurring. We've got plenty of evidence of change through our area. It's not a death sentence by any means… but certainly change will have to occur… to manage it.
BM
And of course we can work together to face those challenges.
DD
Yes, yes. Working together is an important part of that. But it's… there's not many of us left to work together. So it's very important that…
BM
Your talking about this part of the world.
DD
Yes. *chuckles*
BM
*Chuckles*
DD
World population is increasing and increasing but unfortunately, the population of the Wimmera is…hmmm… static.
BM
But it might go up with COVID and people getting out of cities looking for a different lifestyle.
DD
Well, that creates that whole new mind field, that's fine, but we've run out of houses and all this other, these other issues and then I'll be stretching your resources too much, but…oh well *chuckles*
BM
We'll adapt, won’t we
DD
We will adapt.
BM
*Chuckles* Well David it's been a pleasure talking with you today, and thank you very much for your time, and insights on climate change, and how to deal with it.
DD
Thank you very much.
BM
That was David Drage at Lah, farmer and member of Adapt Grampians.
You will find as always contact numbers and details in the notes attached to this episode. And while you're at it, please give us a star rating. We'd also love to hear your comments and suggestions. Our Facebook and Twitter details are in the notes. Until next have a healthy life won’t you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai edited by WWHS Health Promotion Team.
