Attributable to Kylie King: RDA Murray Board Chair
It’s our hope that today’s announcement of additional funding through the Farm Business Resilience Program is just the first step towards what is truly needed to support the farmers and producers of our region. The reality we’re hearing on the ground is that farmers in southern NSW need more than training programs and planning support, they need immediate relief.
There is an inevitable time lapse between funding being announced and meaningful delivery to farmers, and we want to be sure that their lived experience is front and centre. Otherwise we risk creating a well-funded program that tells farmers what they already know, while the real crisis continues to deepen in paddocks and stockyards.
At the recent Southern NSW Drought Summit, farmers, councils and industry leaders delivered a clear, practical roadmap of what’s required on the ground. Urgent calls were made for immediate financial support – including fodder and freight subsidies and direct grants for feed and water to help maintain critical breeding herds. The establishment of a Government-led, Producer-informed Drought Taskforce was also strongly advocated, to ensure faster, coordinated, and evidence-based responses.
Participants further highlighted the need for tax incentives and programs that put real dollars back into farmers’ pockets, alongside targeted recovery measures such as grants for pasture restoration, restocking, and expanded mental health and financial counselling services.
Producers in our region are telling us that conditions are now beyond resilience planning; they are at crisis point, facing impossible decisions about stock, businesses, and their future. Today’s funding addresses only part of the picture, but falls short of what is urgently required.
We hope this announcement represents just a starting point of a broader, more comprehensive drought response for regional NSW. The Murray region is ready to work with government on practical, producer-informed solutions that balance resilience-building with immediate relief.
