When it comes to drought it is important to have a plan, act early and review the plan often.
The best time to plan for drought is in non-drought times. So where do you start?
The managing drought guide has a preparation section which takes you through putting together a drought action plan. It includes resources about how to conduct a farm audit and working out the strategies you will enact when a drought occurs. The guide can be found here.
Climate
State Seasonal Update
Click here for up-to-date information about current seasonal conditions. Find out about drought, rainfall and temperature over the past month, outlook for the coming three months or get a detailed breakdown of conditions for your region.
Combined Drought Indicator
This interactive tool provides a snapshot of current seasonal conditions for NSW, factoring in rainfall, soil moisture and pasture/crop growth indices. By accounting for the effectiveness of rainfall the CDI provides a more comprehensive indicator of drought conditions than many other sources. In NSW, drought occurs when any of these indices falls below 30%, when compared to historical records.
Local Land Services
Whether you’ve got a question about feed rations, a query about sowing or maintaining pastures, or a complex animal health issue, Local Land Services can help
If you have any questions or need support, please contact your Local Land Services office.
Farm Innovation Fund
The Farm Innovation Fund is a long term, low interest rate loan scheme for NSW farmers for permanent on-farm infrastructure. The Farm Innovation Fund helps farmers to:
- improve farm productivity - reduce risks and improve efficiencies by building fodder and grain storage facilities, sheds, fencing, roadworks and solar power conversions.
- manage adverse seasonal conditions - improve water efficiencies with irrigation systems, cap and piping of bores, new dams, install water tanks and desilting of ground tanks.
- ensure long term sustainability - increase the viability of a farm business and improve pasture and soil health, plant trees for shade and wildlife corridors, eradicate weeds, flood proof property and fence river banks.
For more information visit the Rural Assistant Authority website.