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Severe drought in South Australia continues to take significant toll on farmers
ABC NEWS (Australia)
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6/14/2025
Parts of regional and rural Australia are suffering from the impact of extreme weather. Floods and droughts are taking a major financial toll. While rain has brought some relief to certain regions, the impact on mental health remains.
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00:00
I think it's the worst drought in my lifetime.
00:07
I talked to my dad, he's 92 years old and he says he can't remember a drought being this widespread.
00:15
I think there's a growing sense of weariness with the wind, with the dust,
00:21
with constantly looking out at dry landscapes that are blowing past your front door and through your house.
00:28
For large parts of southern Australia, it's never been this bad.
00:33
It's been the driest start to the year on record for many,
00:37
and some regions have had well below average rainfall for more than two years now.
00:43
The wind we had Monday just swept all this country bare.
00:51
Grant Chapman's family has farmed this land for three generations.
00:55
His property is just outside Oruru, three hours north of Adelaide.
01:00
No one here remembers it being this dry.
01:04
He's already had to sell off sheep, and with feed both scarce and expensive,
01:08
he's considering a future where he has to sell what's left.
01:14
The drought's impact is being felt as deeply in the schoolyard as anywhere else in the country.
01:20
There's no green grass for the sheep to eat.
01:24
It's just, it's just bare.
01:27
We haven't even got our cedar out yet, but we mostly get the grain down at where we call the valley.
01:35
Last year it was terrible down there too.
01:38
One of the unusual factors in this drought is how widespread it is.
01:44
On Rob Pierce's property outside Broken Hill, it's also been a dry season.
01:50
God's got the say, and I haven't got his email address.
01:52
Alison Henderson runs a Merino stud on her property two and a half hours north of Adelaide.
02:00
Despite the drought, she is still optimistic.
02:03
She's been working on her pole Merino's genetics and breeding a more drought-tolerant sheep.
02:09
You don't have to get out of livestock just because it's really dry times.
02:13
There is a way that we can do this better.
02:15
There's been a climate change driven trend in declining rainfall in southern Australia over the last 30 years.
02:23
The good news for now is there has been some rain, not enough to break the drought,
02:28
but even a little bit of rain is enough to raise the spirits.
02:33
Rain would change the mood instantly.
02:35
Like, good soaking rain would definitely have, be the biggest and best morale booster we could get.
02:40
at the same time.
02:42
Terence
02:43
Determinac
02:44
Lorraine
02:45
Hurricane
02:46
If you haven't-
02:46
Congratulations, offer bacon
02:50
sediment
02:52
blown away
02:53
æ³³
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1:59
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