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Rural Aid helps farming families to reboot

Posted on 18 July 202318 July 2023

The “people side of drought” is front and centre for a Rural Aid-supported initiative helping farming families reboot not just their businesses, but themselves.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said in drought, the focus was on the livestock, the property and immediate concerns, leaving the people themselves “pushed to the side”.

“The Farming Family Reboot is an initiative that we’re really proud of at Rural Aid; we feel it’s a really powerful thing to take families away from the farm for a brief period of time to get new skills, knowledge and tools.”

The Farming Family Reboot itself is not only free, the program covers accommodation and meals for participants, thanks to the support of Rural Aid, the University of New England, and the SQNNSW Innovation Hub through funding from the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund.

The Future Drought Fund showcased the Farming Family Reboot at this year’s Science to Practice Forum, producing a video with participants from across Queensland and New South Wales including the Thompson, Dwyer, Walterfang and Weller families highlighting their experiences.

Steve and Fran Thompson, of Dalveen in Queensland, took part in the first ever Reboot in Armidale.
“I’m not into going away to courses traditionally … (and) I thought the program was fantastic. It’s just not about farming, it’s about the whole lifestyle,” Steve said.

Armidale Node Manager Lu Hogan, based at the University of New England, said that when planning their activities under the SQNNSW Innovation Hub, they wanted to make sure they met the needs of farmers.
“What we found was that there was plenty of technical information about drought management and infrastructure, but what was really missing was that big picture overview about what’s the strategy for the business and improving their ability to plan and to think about the finances and to also look after themselves.”

2023 participants Rhianne and Jeff Dwyer, Glen Innes NSW, said the latest drought was hard on all farming families, with many selling their businesses and leaving farming.

“We obviously don’t want to do that,” Rhianne said. “We want to have it forever and have it for our kids.”

“You can never stop learning,” Jeff said. “There are different ways of doing things now. We can’t change the weather, but we can do other things to help. We can go home and maybe try different things or prepare better, for it if it does come dry again.”

Grant Walterfang, from Springdale in Queensland, said the renewed enthusiasm he got from the course had made a huge difference.

“Everybody got something out of it, even though there were people there that ran goats, people ran sheep, people ran cattle, people in different areas,” Grant said.

He said everyone had faced the same issues in the last drought, and they came through it still going, and looking for answers.

“The presenters from UNE and other SQNNSW Innovation Hub partners, I believe they really nailed it. Everything they taught us and showed us, they backed up with their own resources and their own experiments they’d done in the paddocks.”

Karen and Peter Weller, from the Winton district of NSW, attended to kick start their succession planning effort.

“What I found at the program, which was so different to other programs, was the mental health component,” Karen said.

“There was a lot more positivity and a lot more explanation, and I took so much more away.”
John Warlters said the beauty of the program was that it wasn’t anchored to any one location.
“It can be picked up and taken right around the country.”

In fact, the next Farming Family Reboot will be held at the SQNNSW Innovation Hub Lismore Node, in November 2023. Expressions of interest can be emailed to lhogan22@une.edu.au

The Farming Family Reboot program covers: the way decisions are made on the farm; understanding and using critical decision points and weather forecasts in the livestock and cropping cycle to better manage climate challenges; available tools such as Ag360.com.au; matching stocking rate to feed supply; critical evaluation of the finances; considering investment in new infrastructure to better manage drought and other climate challenges; relationships within the family and making better decisions as a family; and research and development at UNE SMART Farms.

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 Media on media@ruralaid.org.au or 0447 116 757.

Rural Aid: volunteers needed in Gippsland

Posted on 13 July 202313 July 2023

Rural Aid is appealing to Victorians to roll up their sleeves for a week of farm work.

The charity is planning a Farm Recovery Event in Orbost from 30 July to 5 August 2023. But a lack of volunteers is threatening the event’s likelihood.

Rural Aid Farms Coordinator Grant Miskimmin has urged more people to sign up, promising that Farm Recovery Events are hugely rewarding.

“We’ll be helping a handful of Orbost farmers repair their properties after last year’s devastating floods,” Mr Miskimmin said.

“These farmers still have debris across their paddocks and fences they haven’t been able to rebuild.

“Right now, we don’t have enough volunteers for our usual week-long event.

“We’re asking people to donate their time to help our farmers.”

Mr Miskimmin said no prior farming experience was needed.

“We are grateful for all kind of skill sets. We need help in several areas, from the camp kitchen, to tying barbed wire and picking up debris; there is a job for everyone.”

“You’ll gain hands-on experience, learn new skills, and make treasured connections.

“It’s very rewarding to give back to our farmers; the backbone of our country,” Grant said.

Rural Aid provides all volunteers with food over the week-long event.

Volunteers typically stay in their own caravans at the Orbost Showgrounds.

Interested volunteers are urged to apply today at: https://www.ruralaid.org.au/volunteers/

For more information on Rural Aid, visit the Rural Aid website, www.ruralaid.org.au or call 1300 327 624.

Rural Aid volunteers repair Lismore farms

Posted on 3 July 202312 October 2023

Eighteen months on from catastrophic floods, Lismore farmers continue to provide food and fibre for the nation, despite their difficult, ongoing flood recovery.

Some farmers are living in sheds, some haven’t had income for months and exhaustion is rife.
Rural Aid volunteers have spent a week easing the load for these farmers; repairing fencing, cleaning beehives and tidying orchards on the Northern Rivers.

27 volunteers from across Australia jumped in to lend a hand across six farms.

Pecan grower Scott Clark said recovering from the flood has been all-consuming.

“Most of the time, it’s been quite a struggle to get out of bed,” Scott said.

He said he “couldn’t thank Rural Aid enough” for the volunteers’ efforts.

“They’re not real big jobs but to have them out of the way is very helpful. It’s a load off our minds,” Scott said.

Cattle farmer Alyson Bruggy also thanked the volunteers for their hard work.

“It’s amazing that people are happy to put their hand up to come along and do just about anything to help out,” she said.

“It means a lot to us. They’re getting the extra jobs done that we just can’t get to; it’s definitely speeding up progress.”

Rural Aid Farm Coordinator Grant Miskimmin said the region is still reeling from the floods.

“The level of flooding was just horrific… it’s very hard to comprehend,” Grant said.

“Rural Aid has been honoured to help Northern Rivers farmers with financial assistance, free counselling, Multikraft probiotic solution, the Farm Army platform and hay drops over the past 18 months. And it’s great to be here now with a team of hard-working volunteers.”

“Some of these volunteers have come from as far away as Melbourne all the way up here to lend a hand.”

Volunteer Barbie De Witt said helping on the farms has given her a better appreciation for how resilient farmers are.

“I have learnt so much about how tough it is to be a farmer. When you live in the city you are oblivious to the hardships that they go through.”

The volunteers stayed at the Lismore Showgrounds.

Tools and equipment for the week of works were purchased from Northern Rivers shops.

Local organisations, including the Lions Club and Hospital Auxiliary, generously catered for the volunteer cohort.

Featured in News of The Area

Rural Aid supports food education campaign

Posted on 27 June 202327 June 2023

Rural Aid has thrown its support behind a campaign to help Australians better understand where their food comes, how to eat seasonally and ways they can stretch their “food dollars” further.

The National Farmers Federation (NFF) inspired campaign featuring Sydney-based culinary experts Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards from Cornersmith will showcase a different Aussie-grown product every week for the next six weeks.

Recent research commissioned by the NFF found that 51 per cent of the Australian population is “extremely” or “very” concerned about fresh food and grocery costs.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said it was also concerning that same number of people said they only “know a little” about Australian farming and agriculture, according to the new research.

Mr Warlters said while Australian farmers were world-renowned for the quality of their produce and their efficiency, closer to home many people were less familiar with how their food was grown and how to make the most of their food purchases.

“At Rural Aid our mission is to safeguard our farmers – our food producers, before, during and after natural disasters, but we also aim to be a bridge that connects city and country,” Mr Warlters said.
NFF president Fiona Simson said recognising the value of food started with learning just how much work “our farmer put into growing it”.

“How often do we grab lettuce from the shelf for a few dollars without even thinking it has spent 12 weeks being nurtured on a farm,” Ms Simson said.

“We want people to meet the farmers who are growing their food so the next time they’re in the supermarket, they think about how the bread they are buying might have come from the wheat grown by Brad Jones in WA or when they serve up a Sunday roast they think of how passionate Ellen Litchfield from SA is about growing the best quality lamb to feed their family.”

The campaign will be delivered under the NFF-led Australian Farmers platform and will ‘open the gate’ so everyone can see farmers at work for themselves.

“We will look at leafy greens, lamb, oranges, bread, cheese and carrots and meet a farmer who has grown that food, and hear from the Cornersmith team to learn tricks of the trade to make that food go further and receive simple recipes to try,” Ms Simson said.

Sydney-based Alex Elliott-Howery and Jaimee Edwards’ food journey spans cafes, cookbooks and social media.

“We love to preserve, cook and celebrate produce in an effort to save it from landfill and educate Australians to get into the kitchen for fun, sustainability and to save money,” Alex said.

“Join us as we teach you how to eat seasonally, store produce correctly, make the most of leftovers, use up the odds and ends, glam up the staples and get swoony about stale bread (yes, really!).”

The adventure begins this week on the Australian Farmers social media accounts. Tips, tricks, recipes and farmer profiles can be found at farmers.org.au

Rural Aid calls for better bush funding

Posted on 23 June 202323 June 2023

Rural Aid supports the National Rural Health Alliance (NRHA) and its call for better funding for the bush in the wake of new research showing rural Australians are missing out on $6.5 billion annually in healthcare access.

The NRHA-commissioned research reveals that each person in rural Australia is missing out on nearly $850 a year of healthcare access, equating to a total annual rural health spending deficit of $6.5 billion.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters said living and working in the bush was challenging at the best of times and too often people in rural communities were forced to sacrifice access to basic services. This had become an ingrained, but unreasonable, expectation of what was required if someone chose to live outside of a metropolitan area.

“The NRHA, through its research, has quantified the gap. Now we call on government to act swiftly to close the gap,” Mr Warlters said.

Rural Aid is well-known for the assistance it provides farming families before, during and after disaster – including drought, bushfires and floods. This includes mental health and wellbeing support via its team of professional accredited counsellors in communities across rural Australia.

The latest data, revealed in an independent Nous Group report commissioned by the NRHA reflects the urgent need for an overarching National Rural Health Strategy to bring scattered rural health initiatives under one umbrella.

Alliance Chief Executive Susi Tegen said the report looked at health spending from a patient’s perspective, reflecting the alarming day-to-day realities for rural Australians unable to access equitable care.

“Over 7 million people, who make up nearly a third of Australia’s population, experience a greater burden from illness and early death, in part due to inadequate funding for their healthcare. This is despite the significant contribution they make to Australia’s economy,” she said.

Resources and rural industries alone generate around 80 per cent of Australia’s exports, excluding the extra contribution of rural-based services and manufacturing. The value of agriculture, fisheries and forestry exports is $76 billion, while commodities exports are worth $497 billion – a collective value to the nation of over $500 billion, courtesy of rural Australia.

More than 90 percent of fresh food sold in Australia is produced rurally. In addition, nearly half of the nation’s tourism income is from rural Australia and over half a million people are directly employed in rural tourism-related industries.

Rural people experience a triple health disadvantage: poorer circumstances in terms of social determinants of health, a lack of service availability, and higher costs of access and delivery, all resulting in poor health outcomes.

“Although the government invests in workforce initiatives and several measures are in place to support rural health, these need to be augmented and continued as they still do not sufficiently improve service availability and a patient’s access to healthcare.

“Social determinants of health negatively impact rural people, who are sick for longer periods and end up in hospitals because of inadequate primary care access to doctors, nurses and other health workers. Proper funding in this regard would keep people well and out of the expensive and overburdened hospital system.

“Rural communities need government to be more flexible and introduce block or genuine support funding to provide multidisciplinary care for patients. These communities know how to collaborate – they do it every day – but costs of access and delivery are higher, so the delivery of healthcare will be different and broader. It does not fit into the model available to urban people,” Ms Tegen said.

The Alliance was calling for the funding of a place-based multidisciplinary model of primary health care that gives the flexibility to engage communities and address local needs in partnership.

“Communities need access to healthcare in their localities. To achieve this, we urge government to add to existing city-based and hybrid (city/rural) training, with a flipped model of exceptional rural medical and allied training, including nurse training. This would make training in cities the exception and enable students living rurally to train in their own communities.

“Why should people living in rural Australia pay twice or thrice the amount for the same health care available in cities, yet still have poorer health? Why do they need to fundraise to access a service that should be provided through their taxes? This is the unfortunate reality faced by many rural Australians,” Ms Tegen said.

Investing in rural areas would have the additional benefit of reducing costs in the hospital sector and emergency departments but, more importantly, it would increase the already significant economic contribution of rural communities to Australia’s wellbeing.

Read report here