News Archives

Farmers urged to reach out for help

Posted on 15 July 202415 July 2024

Australia’s most trusted rural charity is encouraging farmers to reach out for assistance this Farm Safety Week.

“This year’s Farm Safety Week theme is ‘in safe hands’,” Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said.

“Rural Aid’s mission is to stand with farmers when they need it most.”

“We’re encouraging farmers to register with Rural Aid, so that our organisation and its passionate donors, can support farmers’ wellbeing and safety with a hand-up.”

Rural Aid’s range of assistance measures help farmers improve their lives and businesses before, during and after disaster events – be it drought, bushfire or flood.

“Rural Aid’s mental health and wellbeing team do a fantastic job of heading on-farm to chat with primary producers, at no cost to the farmer,” Mr Warlters said.

“Our financial, water and fodder assistance provides urgent relief for farmers in need.

“And our Farm Recovery Events supply farmers with a team of volunteers, ready to tackle farming jobs post-disaster,” Mr Warlters said.

Rural Aid’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager, Myf Pitcher, said it takes strength to reach out for help.

“We want farmers to treat themselves as their most precious business asset and be open to receiving help with their busy workload,” Ms Pitcher said.

“One conversation at the right time with the right person can change everything”.

“More than 18,000 primary producers are “in safe hands”, already registered with Rural Aid,” Ms Pitcher said.

“Registering with Rural Aid means we can support farmers when they need it, now or in the future, and it helps us support rural communities as well.”

“Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us to see how we can help.”

To register with Rural Aid, visit www.ruralaid.org.au or call 1300 327 624.

About Rural Aid
Rural Aid is Australia’s most trusted rural charity. We stand with our farmers when they need us most. Rural Aid provides critical support to farmers affected by natural disaster through financial, wellbeing and fodder assistance. Rural Aid’s community programs help create more sustainable communities by building stronger futures for all Australian farmers. Find out more at www.ruralaid.org.au

For more information or interviews, contact Rural Aid CEO John Warlters on 0409 618 641 or at john.warlters@ruralaid.org.au

Volunteers needed to help more Nowra farmers

Posted on 13 June 202413 June 2024

Rural Aid, Australia’s must trusted rural charity, is appealing for more volunteers to help in the Shoalhaven region next month.

Rural Aid is hosting a “Farm Recovery Event” in Nowra from 7 July to 13 July.

Rural Aid’s Farm and Community Coordinator, Grant Miskimmin, said the more volunteers attending the event, the more local farmers Rural Aid can help.

“We want to help as many Nowra-region farmers recover from flooding as we can,” Mr Miskimmin said. He encouraged interested volunteers to join the charity in making a difference.

“Our Farm Recovery Events are a fantastic way to give back to the nation’s farmers, who work so hard to provide food and fibre for our nation,” Mr Miskimmin said.

“We’re grateful for everyone’s help and we have a job for every volunteer, regardless of skill or experience.”

“The jobs we help our farmers with typically include fencing, cleaning, painting and repairing.

“We can usually find a job for every willing volunteer, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you’re unsure.

“It’s a transformative week for both our farmers and our volunteers; everyone gets so much out of the experience,” Mr Miskimmin finished.

Rural Aid is also appealing for local groups with catering capabilities to reach out.

“We’d love to hear from local organisations who could feed our crew by catering an evening meal for our hard-working volunteers,” Mr Miskimmin said.

“Rural Aid happily sponsors all food for the week, so it’s a great way for local organisations to raise some funds too.”

Volunteers are welcome to stay at the Nowra Showgrounds in their own accommodation.
All meals and equipment are provided to volunteers.

For more information, please visit www.ruralaid.org.au/volunteers or call Grant Miskimmin, Rural Aid’s Farm and Community Coordinator, on 0449 200 854.

Media contacts
For more information or interviews contact:

Rural Aid media
0447 116 757
media@ruralaid.org.au

Grant Miskimmin,
Rural Aid’s Farm and Community Coordinator
0449 200 854

“All is not well on the farm”- Rural Aid CEO

Posted on 13 June 202413 June 2024

Australia’s most trusted rural charity has been urgently assisting farmers who are battling increased levels of mental ill-health in recent months.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said primary producers are feeling overworked, underappreciated and anxious.

“In a recent Rural Aid study, one in two farmers said they’ve felt their mental health decline in the past year,” Mr Warlters said.

“76 per cent of our farmers rated their mental health as poor, very poor or average.”

“These numbers show that all is not well on the farm,” Mr Warlters said.

“It’s a sentiment echoed across the industry; Rabobank’s Rural Confidence Survey has shown farm confidence has plummeted in the past three months.”

Rural Aid’s Mental Health and Wellbeing Manager, Myf Pitcher, said weather conditions, biosecurity concerns, and disaster recovery are on farmers’ minds.

“Our counselling team is making a really important difference every day, we’ve been all over the country supporting primary producers,” Ms Pitcher said.

“From hay drops in South Australia, to water tank deliveries in Western Australia, and resilience and recovery conversations in Queensland, our mental health and wellbeing team have been working overtime to assist farmers with the challenges they’re currently facing.”

Mr Warlters said the record dry conditions in the south and west of the nation are proving especially difficult for farmers to deal with.

“Rural Aid has organised and executed a support drop of hay, stockfeed or emergency household drinking water at the rate of roughly one per day over the last four weeks. The demand for hay in South Australia has been particularly strong.”

“But, Rural Aid can’t do any of its vital work without the generosity of the Australian public,” Mr Warlters added.

“With tax time just around the corner, it’s a good time to consider a donation to Rural Aid.”

“Thank you to every single person who has dug deep for our mates in the bush in their moment of need,” Mr Warlters said.

To donate to Rural Aid, or to find out more about Rural Aid’s mental health and wellbeing program, visit www.ruralaid.org.au or call 1300 327 624.

Media contact:
For more information or interviews, contact Rural Aid media on media@ruralaid.org.au or 0447 116 757.

Statistics source:
“Pulse of the Paddock” Report
Rabo Bank

Demand for fodder still high, despite rain

Posted on 5 June 202410 June 2024

Rain across four states has failed to dampen demand for fodder to feed drought affected livestock.

Australia’s most trusted rural charity, Rural Aid, said the sigh of relief from farmers who received rain in the past week was almost audible such was the desperation of some; none more so than producers in south-western West Australia where the region had experienced its driest conditions on record.

“This rain could not have come at a better time given the circumstances producers had in front of them,” Rural Aid chief executive officer John Warlters said.

“But we don’t expect the demand for fodder, or the challenge in sourcing it, to change in the short to medium term.”

The challenge was still ahead of many farming families whose enterprises had received only light relief and where still hoping for more rain in coming weeks.

Large parts of Victoria remained especially dry – rainfall during autumn had been in the lowest 10pc of records for the south-west, and parts of the west, north-east and East Gippsland.

South Australia had enjoyed some relief with falls on average of between five to 15mm but remained parched.

“Rural Aid continues to be active right across the country at this time providing hay for livestock, drinking water, and financial relief,” Mr Warlters said.

“Our counsellors are particularly active in providing one-on-one support, but are also attending a wide cross-section of industry events to ensure they are visible and easily accessible to anyone that wants to chat.”

In the past month, Rural Aid had coordinated 29 fodder drops across the country.

Western Australia
Rural Aid, funded in part by the Cook Government, had delivered stockfeed, hay, water tanks, emergency household drinking water and counselling support, including connecting with farmers and families in the south west at drought resilience events at Yornup and Manjimup.

South Australia
A series of hay drops over multiple weeks were scheduled, the most recent at Quorn on Monday (June 3). Further drops at Quorn were planned for coming weeks pending further rain and continuing access to fodder.

Victoria/NSW
Rural Aid counsellors continued to provide wellbeing support while discussions with industry continued regarding how Rural Aid could best support farmers above and beyond its “traditional” service delivery.

Queensland
Producers impacted by bushfires in late 2023 across the Southern and Western Darling Downs were being supported with hay and counselling. In addition, 30 volunteers recently spent a week working on nine properties in and around Tara.

Mr Warlters said Rural Aid relied heavily on community and corporate support to fund its activities and was encouraging tax-time donations to help sustain its efforts.

“With June 30 just around the corner now is an opportunity to make a tax-deductible donation in support of Rural Aid and ‘our mates in the bush’ – the farming families that need our help.”

For more information or interviews, contact Rural Aid media on media@ruralaid.org.au or phone John Warlters, CEO on 0409 618 641.

Source: Borderwatch
Denipt
Farmonline
wa.gov.au

Rural Aid crams five years of bushfire recovery into one week on Granite Belt

Posted on 17 April 202422 April 2024

Volunteers from Australia’s most trusted rural charity have spent a week on Queensland’s Granite Belt, helping farmers recover from devastating bushfires that swept the region in late 2023.

Thirty-two Rural Aid volunteers have given their time to seven farmers as part of the Dalveen Farm Recovery Event.

Farmer Brian Wilson said it had been an amazing week.

“I am so grateful to Rural Aid for the help because I couldn’t have done it [the work], there’s no way. It would take me at least five years to do what we’ve done here,” Mr Wilson said.

The October 2023 bushfire destroyed 95 per cent of Brian’s fruit tree nursery.

He described the aftermath of the natural disaster as a “war zone”.

The grower said the fire forced him to think about pulling the pin on his farm business.

He said the financial, physical and mental toll of the fires meant that recovery was an overwhelming thought.

“I knew I couldn’t do it on my own,” he said.

A team of Rural Aid volunteers worked on Brian’s farm last week; putting in enough hard yakka that Brian estimates it will save him five years of work.

“Rural Aid turned up and have bought a team, an army of people and hundreds of hours of work have been done; fixing irrigation, burying pipes,” Mr Wilson said.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said it was an honour to help our mates in the bush get back on track.

“There’s this enormous uplift emotionally that comes with people providing help and support,” Mr Warlters said.

“It’s a hand-up, not a hand-out. But we know it means so much,” Mr Warlters said.

Southern Downs Mayor, Cr Melissa Hamilton, said the long-road to recovery has only just begun, six months on from the fires.

“It’s vital for disaster-affected communities to know they haven’t been forgotten especially when the next event happens soon after and the media turns their attention elsewhere,” Cr Hamilton said.

“Knowing that an organisation such as Rural Aid has come out in full force to help the Dalveen community rebuild, is invaluable.”

Rural Aid’s volunteers stayed at the Stanthorpe Showgrounds.

For more information or interviews, contact Rural Aid media on media@ruralaid.org.au or 0447 116 757.

Source: Courier Mail