SE Australia Drought Area Continues To Expand

[hatrack]

The drought continues to worsen across south-east NSW. The lower far south coast has now been added to the list, which will allow farmers in the area from Brogo to the Victorian border to qualify for extra Government help. The State Government has revealed that more than 90 per cent of NSW is now officially drought-stricken.

On the Monaro, the dry is becoming a critical factor with many farmers forced to sell-off stock. Those animals that are being kept are having to be hand-fed. "We're in the middle of June now, so we certainly won't be getting a break until spring," Brian Clifford from the Cooma Rural Lands Board said.

EDIT

The chairman of Bega Cheese, Barry Irvin, says his producers are finding it increasingly difficult to get supplementary feed which they need to get their cows through the winter. "We've obviously come off a very bad drought last year. We had a very small break in some areas of the valley," he said. "Now we are going back into drought in a pretty significant way which essentially means that farmers will be out there once again looking to buy fodder, hay and grain in particular and that will be extraordinarily scarce and extraordinarily expensive."

Premier Bob Carr said yesterday he feared the Australian east coast was undergoing a "devastating" climate shift brought about by global warming that would lead to permanently drier weather, but he declined to comment on the idea that areas of NSW could no longer be farmed sustainably."

EDIT

http://www.abc.net.au/news/items/200506/1388328.htm?southeastnsw

[phantom power]

1. "the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment"

I forget who said that, but I'm afraid the 21st century is going to be one big demonstration of the truth of that saying.