Journalist Elka Devney speaks with host Kirsten Diprose about charity fundraising efforts, with residents of a small town in NSW rallying together to launch a grain harvest pledge to keep the local golf club doors open.
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00:00Hello, welcome back to Agricast, Kirsten Dipprose here, and joining me is journalist Elke Divney,
00:13who has been covering the harvest across New South Wales. Farmers who are run off their
00:18feet are also raising money for the community. Harvest is in full swing, and across the state
00:24we've seen some above average yields, which is really exciting, and growers are taking
00:29this opportunity to give back to their local community, and that's coming in droves.
00:33Yeah, great. So what are they doing?
00:35A lot of growers right across the state have donated, using the National Growers Registry,
00:40portions or part of their loads to harvest pledge or drives, and these initiatives are
00:46all across the state. We've gone from Mungindi up in the north, where a local community group
00:51are raising funds for their childcare centre. Down into Pallada, the local golf club is
00:56actually seeking support to keep their doors open. A little bit further west, out in Burren
01:00Junction, the local public school is fundraising to keep their third teacher for their three
01:06teacher model. And then a little bit further into the south, out at Kinnambool, growers
01:11are actually donating part of their load to go towards building a new preschool, which
01:17at the moment has a wait list of around 30 to 40 kids, so it's some awesome initiatives
01:22going at the moment.
01:23How did you first come across these drives and how it all started?
01:27The Pallada Golf Club actually came up on my Facebook feed. I think a friend of mine
01:31had shared it, and I clicked in and thought, oh, this is quite interesting, a bit of a
01:34different story, different take on harvest. And the Pallada Golf Club were seeking donations
01:40through the NGR system to keep the doors open, and I gave the manager a ring to see what
01:46was going on in that small community. Pallada, for those who don't know, is in between Narrabri
01:51and Moree in the States Northwest. Once I got onto the manager there, we had a bit of
01:55a chat and the story was just oozing with tales, and it seemed like an incredible story,
02:01a different side to harvest. And we got chatting and I thought, no, this is a story I can't
02:06do over the phone. I have to be up there, boots on the ground, in the paddock to get
02:09this story. And funnily enough, it actually featured on our cover this week and was one
02:14of the main stories in our harvest spread.
02:17And how is harvest going in New South Wales? I've caught you in the office this time, but
02:21you've probably been out and about a lot.
02:23Yeah, no, I certainly have been out and about, up into the north and then out into the central
02:27west as well. But harvest is going fantastic. A lot of the people that we've spoken to,
02:31they've tipped this season to be better than a few of the others we've had in recent years.
02:36Growers are recording above average yields, which is always really positive to see.
02:41Can people donate to help these drives that the farmers are running?
02:44They for sure can. Some of the best ways to find out where you can donate is to visit
02:48a lot of these small groups on Facebook or via the National Growers Registry System.
02:54Thank you, Elka. And of course, you can read her stories in The Land and right across ACM
02:58Agri's network. And this has been Agricast.
03:02I'll catch you next time.