When I was a kid back in the late 1920's we had the biggest wheat farmer in the world in our district putting in 20, 000 acres with horse teams. Gustave Liebe, whose nephew Albert Klein had been locked up during WW1, not only because he was an outspoken German barstard, as said, but along with more German migrants who were working for the Liebes, some having been in South Australia, there were suggestions about what the Germans would do if they owned the place.

1. To dig a canal from the big South Aussie inlet to Lake Eyre filling it from the sea which would help change the dry inlet climate.

2. And because tropical rains are far more reliable in northern Australia than in the south, all major northern rivers like the Ord and Fitzroy, should be damned and used to irrigate the south.

It is so interesting that most of these Germans were locked up, and indeed, whether stretched or not during WW2 there were rumours coming down that the Japs had similar ideas about Australia's water problems as Gustave Liebe's Germans.

As part German myself on my mother's side, wonder whether the dry climate notwithstanding as they say, has reduced our capability to learn from others.

Sage,
Congratulation, you have finally found a big picture, now if I read you correctly, you are thinking, spend less on Government House and more on the people living in poverty in this country, new alternate energy sources, inovative things like that right? Don't give A$1 BILLION in aid to Indonesia when some of our own people are srarving and working poor. I agree, I have never begrudged a proportion of my taxes going toward those less fortunate than myself, it's called humanitarianism, love of one's fellow man.

Sage you're a changed girl, forgive me for thinking you were a selfish, mean and greedy individual who only thought of themselves.

It is interesting how the Democrats pick and choose their policies according to where they perceive political support is to be gained. Farmers are traditionally are a conservative lot, for whom the ideals of the Democrats are repugnant. So it suits the Democrats to treat agriculture in a cut and dry manner: hence the “hard choices”. However, when it comes to our shores being illegally invaded by hordes of economic refugees, who are cultural aliens, offer no skills, possess no money, nor ability in our language, the Democrats are the first to cry foul, lending support to these people, who then appeal against decisions to deport them at our expense in our courts. We resent this far more than temporary drought relief for farmers.

bushbred, I find your comments on the filling of Lake Eyre very interesting. Its a concept that I have heard mentioned before. It would be interesting to see some studies done on what impact this might have on rainfall across inland Australia. Given that the Canal to be cut from the sea is at most 200kms long, it isnt an undertaking that would be prohibitively costly. I'm sure that the greenies would carry on a treat over that though, disturbing the natural state of the lake and all.

"The only reason Australia is on target to meet its Kyoto target is because we have stopped cutting down trees, which we would have to start doing again if farmers moved up north". How about we plant trees in the south for any that are cut down if farmers move north? Wouldnt that solve the problem? Actually young trees soak up a great deal more carbon than old trees, so potentially we will move even faster towards our targets.

Part of the reason for decreasing sustainability is the ongoing increase in land prices. To buy more land now is to invest money that is going to return you next to nothing. To give you some idea, there is an area in southern NSW where land prices have been up to $670/acre. A more realistic price is $350/acre. What is the reason that the prices are out of proportion to the earning capacity? Well a lot comes down to the push west from the cities (or I guess east is you are in WA). Wealthy city-based professional and businessmen are buying large chunks of land, not particularly caring whether they make a profit from it. Those in the affected area either give up or move further west, thereby inflating prices where they have moved to and production capabilities much lower. I dont know how to address this, but it a major cause of some of the difficulties now being faced.

Yabby is right to talk about appropriate stocking rates and the assessment of risk in deciding whether or not to plant in a given year. The Moonie plains west of Broken Hill are grazing country. There is nothing unsustainable about this. However, the stocking rates need to be appropriate and land holdings large enough to generate sufficient income in good years. The push west again raises its head as an issue. Farmers from the greener areas of the central west for example, will go broke trying to farm land at Condobolin the same way as their land at Cumnock. Its different country and needs to be treated in a different way. Long term family farmers have an intuitive knowledge of their land and how it responds to certain events in the season. This is gained over generations. For example, my father is an ultra-conservative farmer. He destocks at the first hint of a dry coming on. As a result this drought is the first time he has had to feed sheep in 30 years. This is despite the country where he is being classed as marginal, and there being at least 7 droughts in that intervening 30 years. His anger? Not at the current drought or even the current drought assistance. His anger is at govt regulation from 1902 to 1971 that prevented NSW farmers from buying more than a "home maintenance area". He was in a great position in the late 60's to buy additional land, which would mean that he would be that much more viable now, but wasnt allowed to as his 4500acres was classed as enough to support a family. Even when the restriction was lifted in the 70's, he still had to pay a sizeable sum to derestrict his FREEHOLD land. This left many farmers with less than ideal land holdings, and who would have been in a stronger financial position today had they been able to expand at a time when their financial situation was ideal.

Well I really do think that there are solutions, they are just
perhaps different to what many are suggesting.

If we look at no-till. ie deep till, hydraulics- the dbs kind
of concept, those people will get crops in dry years where others
simply won't. This year has proven it once again.

With livestock, you are fortunate in the East to have more
competition then we do in the West, in the processing sector.

At the moment here in WA, cattle works are booked solid for
the next couple of months, so they can name their price,
nothing that farmers can do about it, as the labour regulations
for the meat industry are so inflexible.

This year in July-August, when the writing was on the wall in
WA, smart farmers got the gun out and shot their merino lambs.
Sounds draconian, but it was a win-win situation. The ewes
picked up condition immediately, the lambs didn't suffer,
farmers could sell a few mobs immediately, even though processors,
who watch the weather too, had already cut the price by 40%.

Those who hung on regardless have landed up with bare paddocks,
ewes worth 60c instead of 1$ a kg, merino lambs selling for
3$ a head right now. Yet nobody had the guts to stand up at the
time and even suggest that shooting lambs was by far the best option.

What annoys me in WA is that because of our limited processors
here, they know exactly how to screw farmers in drought, yet
Govt won't give us the means to stop it happening. All very frustrating indeed.