Flood emergency continues to unfold along the NSW coast

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Farmers are being hit particularly hard by the rain and flooding emergency along the NSW coast. Hay and cattle producer, Michael Zyza, runs a farm at Millers Forest, north of Newcastle. He's lost around $100,000 already and doesn't know when he'll be able to start again.

Transcript

00:00Yeah, the stuff we made was pretty decent quality but it was just a bit too hard to access

00:08so we just grabbed this stuff that was quick and easier but those bales, they were good

00:12quality.

00:13They're probably worth $150 a bale each in the current market and yeah, they're mulch

00:19bales.

00:20If someone asks me $20 for them after the flood, I'll jump at it.

00:25Yeah, there's no money in that but anyway, safely the clean-up cost.

00:29It's something we don't want to think about but it's going to be painful.

00:32It's going to be painful, just bales in the fences, debris and all that and because we

00:38were so wet beforehand, just muddy and all that, the ground's got no stability so getting

00:44heavy machinery onto the paddocks is sort of a case, you'll be just doing more damage

00:49than harm.

00:50When we're actually going to be able to get back to normal, it could be August until the

00:56ground dries up to a reasonable state.

01:01Farming, a lot of people in the city don't understand it, financial economics of farming.

01:06The only way we make money is outlaying stupid amount of money for a small return.

01:11If you don't love farming, it's a terrible investment, there's no two ways to be able to, but it's

01:17enjoyable for the best part of it.

01:18.

01:21.

01:25.

01:29.

01:33.

01:36.

01:40.

Category

Transcript

Recommended