News Archives - Page 9 of 63

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.

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.

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

Spirit of the Bush photography winners announced

Posted on 14 June 202323 June 2023

Australia’s most trusted rural charity has announced the winners of its fourth annual Spirit of the Bush photography competition.

Rural Aid CEO John Warlters congratulated the photographers behind the 12 winning photos.

“Each photo tells a compelling story, whether it be of a successful crop, sunset silhouette or tender moment between working dog and owner,” Mr Warlters said.

“A powerful love of livestock and the land really shines through in this year’s pictures.”

“Our annual competition always attracts hundreds of entries. Thank you to all those who sent their photos in to be judged and congratulations to our winners.”

The 12 photos will be used to create a stunning 2024 calendar.

“Any profits from the calendar’s sale are directed back into Rural Aid’s range of award-winning programs,” Mr Warlters said.

“Rural Aid is proud to stand with our mates in the bush when they need it, whether that’s through a hay delivery, pre-paid visa card, or free counselling.”

“I’d encourage anyone with an appreciation of the bush to consider purchasing one of these beautiful calendars.”

The calendars are available for pre-order now through the website: https://shop.ruralaid.org.au/shop-calendar/

The winners of the 2023 Spirit of the Bush competition are:

First name	Last name	Closest town	State
Anne	Bell	Esperance	WA
Debbie	Cristinelli	Tambellup	WA*
Jane	Taylor	Carnarvon	WA
Shannon	Swanton	Manilla	NSW
Paula	McIver	Barraba	NSW*
Lauren	Bell	Monogorilby	QLD
Kathryn	Ecroyd	St George	QLD
Neil	Kendall	Brisbane	QLD^
Dave	Tan	Allora	QLD
Amie	Hosking	Moura	QLD

(*) These photographers each have two winning photos in this year’s calendar

(^) This photo was taken at the Dayboro Rodeo

View the Winning Photos

Mr Warlters also congratulated the two-time winners of the Spirit of the Bush competition.

“We’ve had a few talented photographers who have chalked up their second Spirit of the Bush win,” Mr Warlters said.

“It’s fantastic to see this competition supported by such a dedicated community, year in, year out,” Mr Warlters finished.

More than 300 entries were submitted to this year’s competition.

Gina Rinehart announced as Rural Aid Patron

Posted on 6 June 20236 June 2023

Australian mining and agriculture icon Gina Rinehart has continued to throw her support behind Rural Aid, Australia’s most trusted rural charity, accepting an invitation to become Rural Aid’s patron.

Rural Aid was founded in the 2015 drought and has forged a reputation for its important work in supporting farming families before, during and after disasters and is well-known nationally for its Buy A Bale campaign.

Chief Executive Officer John Warlters said Rural Aid has given a hand-up to thousands of farming families impacted by drought, bushfires and floods.

Such has been the enormous scale and impact of disaster events since its inception, Rural Aid has raised and distributed more than $100 million of assistance to families across the country.

“We are honoured to have Mrs Rinehart as Rural Aid’s patron and to have her advocating in support of and championing the untiring work that Rural Aid does to enable farming families impacted by disasters receive assistance rapidly wherever they are – be it financial, fodder for livestock, drinking water or a chat with one of Rural Aid’s professionally accredited counsellors,” Mr Warlters said.

Mrs Rinehart has deep ties to agriculture that go back generations. Her family is one of the longest continuing pastoral families in Australia – starting in the Pilbara region of West Australia in the 1860s, and before that on farms closer to Perth. Today that pastoral connection continues with S Kidman and Co, founded in 1899 and Hancock Agriculture with the famous 2GR brand founded in 2017 which breeds the world’s best Full Blood Wagyu.

“We are appreciative of Mrs Rinehart’s ongoing support and very much look forward to our valued friendship continuing into the future,” Mr Warlters said.

Beyond her agricultural interests, Mrs Rinehart is a leading figure in Australia’s Olympic efforts. She is patron of four of the nation’s Olympic teams and was recently made an Officer of the Order of Australia for her distinguished service to the mining sector, to the community through philanthropic initiatives, and to sport as a patron. She is known to many as Australia’s most successful business person, investing in Australia and employing thousands of people across the country.

“Having grown up on stations which I loved very much, stations and farms have and always will be close to my heart. Rural Aid as an organisation that ‘stands with our mates in the bush’ during their hard times, and it does get tough in the bush, with floods, fires and severe drought, in addition to the usual dangers of snakes, spiders and in some northern areas, crocodiles too,” Mrs Rinehart said.

“As patron of Rural Aid, I encourage all Australians to throw their support behind its ongoing efforts in ensuring that our food producers – our farmers- are able to get back on their feet quickly when drought, flood or bushfire hits them.”

Mrs Rinehart said the mining and agricultural industries were the backbone of our country. They not only provide thousands and thousands of jobs, but they present billions of dollars of taxes for governments to build such things as hospitals, kindergartens and roads and pay for our much needed police, security and defence forces.

“Preserving the agricultural and mining industry’s future is in the interests of not only all the businesses that the primary industries support, but every Australian. It is critical that our governments realise these essential industries must keep cost competitive internationally, to be able to continue to earn export income, and thrive, and not burden them with regulations and other onerous government burdens” Mrs Rinehart said.