Help in dry times creates state divide
With rainfall totals at their lowest on record in parts of western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia, weather forecasters say conditions are getting worse.
Drought analysis from the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) shows below-average rainfall in June is compounding the deficiencies of the past year.
“A substantial area of lowest-on-record rainfall has emerged for the 12-month period in south-eastern South Australia and western Victoria,” it said.
"[There are] serious or severe deficiencies present along a broad band extending from west of Ceduna in South Australia to central northern Victoria, covering most of the western two-thirds of Victoria."
The bureau said there was reasonable rainfall in just a small part of north-western Victoria in the last year, and in parts of Eyre Peninsula and eastern regions of SA, to the east of the Fleurieu Peninsula too.
But still, some Victorian farmers say they are having to cart in water and feed just to keep their stock alive.
Over in South Australia, farmers have expressed anger about the slow approval rates for low-interest drought loan applications available to much of south-east Australia.
Farmers say almost no one has gained approval for low-interest loans from SA authorities, but in Victoria, 90 per cent of the applications had been approved by Farm Finance.
In fact, some successful applicants in western Victoria have farms just a few kilometres from the border with SA, virtually neighbours with properties for which loan applications have been rejected.
Primary Producers South Australia executive chairman Rob Kerin said rain this week had been patchy, and the situation is making farmers anxious.
“They are doing it pretty hard at the moment, so hopefully this week might bring something for them,” he said.