After a string of record harvests in recent years, farmers across South Australia have been left to count their losses after grappling with devastating weather conditions. As they look ahead to the 2025 season, the emotional and financial fallout of the drought which has plagued every corner of the state is starting to show.
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00:00Long droughts, late rain and cold frost, farmers across the state have battled with the uncontrollable
00:10to salvage what they could after one of the most challenging seasons on record.
00:15As drought conditions worsen in parts of the state, the frost just burns it off, just burns
00:20it off.
00:21Conditions are being felt in areas not normally associated with drought.
00:24At least 80% has been destroyed.
00:27A problem so widespread, the state government released an $18 million relief package for
00:33farmers.
00:34We're now seeing drought conditions in South Australia that haven't been endured for some
00:38time.
00:39With harvest wrapping up for the year, the true damage of these conditions is becoming
00:43clear to growers on the ground.
00:45While other states flourish, South Australia is expecting to see its worst grain harvest
00:50in more than a decade, and yields 40% below the five-year average.
00:56In the Riverland and Mallee, a spell of frost wiped out paddocks of crops overnight.
01:01It was going to be a below average year anyway with that rainfall, but the frost certainly
01:07dampened it even further and made us pivot a lot.
01:11And the low rainfall, in an already dry part of the world, has only made things harder,
01:16with growers keen to leave this year in the past.
01:19Having some different crops in our system has allowed us to remain slightly more profitable
01:22than perhaps we would have in the past, but it will take two years or more to recover
01:27from this drought.
01:28A strain being felt right across the state.
01:33Despite recent summer rains, farmers are still facing ongoing challenges in securing feed
01:38for livestock.
01:39The Mid-North is battling some of the driest conditions seen since the 1900s, leaving fifth
01:44generation farmer Alison Henderson unable to grow enough fodder for her sheep.
01:49This year we haven't been able to make any hay ourselves, and we didn't reap any barley.
01:54We've had to bring that in from Broken Hill and the Eyre Peninsula.
01:57With nothing to eat in the paddocks, Alison reduced her sheep numbers by more than a third,
02:02and turned to hand-feeding the rest to manage valuable supplies of grain and hay.
02:07She's hoping the new year brings with it improved conditions.
02:10The ideal scenario would be for an early break of the season in April, to kick away a good
02:17season.
02:20Farmers on the Eyre Peninsula are pushing through by investing in sustainable farming
02:25practices to future-proof their lives in an unpredictable climate.
02:30After previous years of droughts around the region's east, growers have been forced to
02:34innovate quickly.
02:35But despite their best efforts, their story this year is similar to the rest.
02:39I don't know that there's much more else that you can do apart from set it up to be the
02:45best possible outcome if you do get rain, and that's what most people have done.
02:50The lack of rain has seen a downpour of support, as the community rallies to get through the
02:55challenging times together.
02:57Because we had a pretty tough one last year, it's sort of added to that as well, so there's
03:02a fair bit of hurt.
03:07In the usually reliable rainfall region of the southeast, this year's extraordinary conditions
03:13have caused a green drought.
03:15While the region appears green and luscious to the eye, the soil has often been too dry
03:21to be useful.
03:22You don't get enough rain early when the ground's warm for those plants to bulk up and get feed
03:28before winter kicks in.
03:30For Keith farmer Glen Simpson, he's expecting to just break even this year, but he's fearful
03:36there's still tough times ahead.
03:38We've had a look over the budget already, because we know things are going to be tight enough
03:42over the next 12-18 months.
03:44While growers know adverse weather is simply the nature of farming, they remain determined
03:49to fill supermarket shelves.
03:51They'll be looking to the skies in hopes of a better 2025.