Catastrophic bushfires and floods in recent days have left Australian farmers fighting for their livelihoods and thousands of livestock dead.
Victoria has suffered severe bushfires throughout most of the state and a state of disaster has been declared.
In response the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) activated its Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) to provide immediate, farmer-led support to producers impacted by the catastrophic bushfires in the state.
Livestock losses caused by the bushfires have been devastating, with thousands of livestock killed in the fires – an estimated 1,000 farms have being affected by the bushfires.
A cattle farmer died while trying to protect his land and cattle.
Emergency fodder support
The VFF, along with the Victorian government, has implemented the Emergency Fodder Support Programme to deliver fodder to farmers affected by the bushfires.
VFF president Brett Hosking said: “It is very difficult to access much of the bushfire zone at the moment, but the VFF is working with other agencies and organisations to get fodder where it is needed.
“I’ve seen some of the scenes in central Victoria and the level of devastation is horrible.”
The Victorian and federal governments have also announced that they will provide AU$50 million in support for farmers who have been affected by the wildfires, with AU$40 million in farm grants and the other AU$10 million in concessional loans.
They have also provided recovery grants up to AU$75,000 to eligible farms to help clean-up and re-building efforts, as well as up to AU$250,000 in loans to primary producers that have been affected.
Separately the Victorian and Australian governments have confirmed that they will provide AU$100 million in additional support to help communities that are looking to recover from the impacts of the bushfires
According to the VFF president farming communities have been “almost wiped off the map”.
“For these communities there’s no overstating the help they need,” Hosking added.
But it is not just farmers in Victoria that have been battling extreme weather conditions in the last seven days.
Farmers in Queensland have suffered a deluge of flooding which has washed away crops and livestock.
The Farmers for Climate Action group has appealed to the Australian prime minister and other political leaders across the country to “improve investment and coordination of adaptation and resilience support for rural communities”.
Verity Morgan-Schmidt, its chief executive, said political leaders also need to “commit to climate policy that aligns with the science”.
She said that heatwave conditions contributed to dried out landscapes with bushfires sweeping through farming districts; “wreaking havoc across communities, destroying farmland, infrastructure and livestock”.
“Around the country, the cumulative impacts continue to mount. Flooding in Queensland has inundated grazing country, devastating graziers and causing significant stock losses, while severe rainfall deficiencies persist in other parts of the country.
“These events are part of an unmistakable pattern of worsening extremes which are becoming more likely as a result of climate pollution,” Morgan-Schmidt added.
