The story of how fresh farms are disappearing in Australia.
A report by the National Farmers Union (NFU) last year warned that many Australian farms were facing a “death spiral” due to drought, soil erosion and pest control.
The report, called A New Harvest, was released last year, and the report’s authors said the situation was “increasingly dire” and highlighted “significant gaps in the farm sector’s knowledge”.
“The growing gap between the research community and farmers, coupled with the growing knowledge gap, has left Australian farmers vulnerable to the ravages of climate change,” the report said.
The NFU’s report was published in September last year and said the government needed to create a new industry and industry strategy to address the problem.
“In response to this report, the Minister for Agriculture, Simon Birmingham, and Rural Development Minister Greg Hunt announced the formation of the National Farm Sector Alliance,” the National Farming Association (NFAA) said in a statement.
“The Alliance will be tasked with ensuring that the industry is equipped to meet the growing needs of the Australian farming community, as well as ensuring the sector remains competitive in a changing environment.”‘
A very sad situation’In a statement, the NFAA said the “increasing number of farms” that were being targeted by pests and drought “had the potential to devastate the agricultural sector and negatively impact on our communities”.
“We believe that the current drought situation is very sad, as it is impacting not just the farmer, but also on the communities in the community that depend on our rural communities for food, income and jobs,” the NFAAA said.
“There are currently approximately 6,000 farms in Australia that are facing closure and that is a very sad and alarming situation.”
The NFAA’s report also said that more than 60% of Australian farmers “have little or no knowledge of how to manage the climate and their environment”.
It said that farmers “are faced with many decisions that are often uncertain and uncertain times” and said there was a “growing perception that climate change is an issue that will not be solved”.
“It’s also clear that Australia has a long way to go in terms of protecting our rural environment from the effects of climate impacts, as we are currently experiencing a very serious drought in many parts of the country,” the statement said.