News Archives - Page 3 of 63

Volunteers needed to help more Nowra farmers

Posted on 13 June 202410 September 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.

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

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

New survey data from Rural Aid shows consecutive disasters have forced most farmers to think about selling

Posted on 20 March 202420 March 2024

A spate of consecutive natural disasters and associated financial pressures are cited as two of the key reasons why more than two-thirds of Australian farmers are considering selling their farms, the results of Rural Aid’s inaugural farmer survey have revealed.

The ‘Pulse of the Paddock’ report shows many farmers are in need of diverse support measures, particularly mental health and wellbeing, to continue to supply quality food to Australian and international tables and contribute to the overall health and prosperity of communities across the country.

Released today, ahead of Rural Aid’s major fundraising campaign tomorrow, Mates Day, the survey attracted responses from 680 farmers and delivered some sobering statistics, supporting the charity’s urgent call to acknowledge the importance of farmers.

The Pulse of the Paddock survey revealed:

80% of farmers believe people do not value the work and effort that goes into producing food
76% of farmers rate their mental health as poor, very poor or average
70% have considered selling their farm in the past 12 months due to natural disasters and financial pressure
45% say their mental health has declined in the past 12 months

Rural Aid CEO, John Warlters, said the survey raises issues he believed every Australian should take heed of, given 93% of food eaten in Australia is produced right here on domestic farms.

“Farmers form the first link in the agricultural supply chain that connects the producer with the consumer. If that’s broken, if we lose farmers and their families because they’re mentally and physically drained from trying to recover from extreme weather events and poor returns, then we won’t be eating locally grown food,” Mr Warlters said.

“The survey results speak to the toll consecutive disasters have taken on our farming communities.

“We need to take their fears seriously, and actively help them to stay on the land.”

Profit discrepancies a key driver of distress

In the Pulse of the Paddock survey, an open-ended question about improving food supply chains garnered the most responses, with the overwhelming majority of farmers suggesting cutting out ‘middlemen’ along the food supply chain as a solution to the narrow the gap between their returns and retailer profits.

Soberingly, the survey revealed the extent to which mental health remains a challenge for the farm sector.

Only 24% of farmers described their mental health as good or very good, and half of the respondents said they had been feeling worse over the past 12 months.

The survey corroborates the statistics from the Norco National Farmer Wellbeing Report released in March 2023, which showed the top three factors impacting farmer mental health were weather or natural disasters (47%), financial stress (36%) and inflation and cost pressures (35%).

Quantifying the impact across the country, it found that 88% of Australian farmers have had their business significantly impacted by natural disasters over the past five years, at an average cost of $1.4 million per farm.

Mr Warlters said he was pleased the survey results showed many people in rural and regional communities were grateful for the work Rural Aid was undertaking.

“Almost 100 per cent of respondents said Rural Aid was having a positive impact on their daily life and household, describing the support as ‘life-changing’, ‘amazing’, and ‘vital’,” he said.

Laura Geitz urges Australians to take notice

Rural Aid’s Mates Day Ambassador, and former Australian champion netballer, Laura Geitz, said most people had little concept of what is involved in bringing healthy food from the paddock to the table.

“Wouldn’t it be great to have a conversation every time you sit down with a plate of food, about where that food came from? Most of us take it for granted that we can zip down to the shops, grab what we want or call Uber Eats, and the food just arrives,” she said.

“But strip it back a bit. Every plate tells a story. What do farmers have to go through to provide us with that meal, and what happens if they can’t?

“I think this is a great opportunity to support Aussie farmers on Mates Day, whether you have ties to agriculture or not.”

Mates Day is Rural Aid’s major annual fundraising campaign. All donations ensure the ongoing provision of critical economic and empathetic assistance to farmers.

To make a donation to Rural Aid’s Mates Day, visit matesday.ruralaid.org.au

Rural Aid’s Pulse of the Paddock is available on the Rural Aid website https://www.ruralaid.org.au/Pulse-Of-The-Paddock.pdf

Media enquiries:
Kate Scott
0438 389 092
kate.scott@bluehillpr.com.au

Stacey Wordsworth
0438 394 371
stacey.wordsworth@bluehillpr.com.au