Help our Aussie farmers

Discussion in 'Philanthropy' started by Illusivedreams, 23rd Jul, 2018.

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  1. Illusivedreams

    Illusivedreams Well-Known Member

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    Hey guys.
    In my line of work I see rural communities.

    It's as though as it gets now. I came back from Toowoomba recently is was dry as a bone.

    Mudgee last week was marginally better but northern and western parts of NSW and Qld are dire.

    People will take their own lives. Not being dramatic, O actually feel I'm understating how tough it is now.

    Please donate.
    I like Aussie helpers

    Aussie Helpers – Australian Farming Charity for Farmers' Families in Hardship

    Buy a bale is newer

    Buy a Bale of Hay, Helping Australian Farmers

    Donate $50 will be something if you can spare more I encourage you.



    These people are family operations .

    This forum has so much wealth.

    @Simon Hampel

    Maybe we can do a fund raising meet up.

    Sydney Melbourne Brisbane.... And donate as a PC community?
     
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  2. LVR

    LVR Well-Known Member

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    As a child of a regional town background it is terrible to see these farmers doing it so tough every time another drought occurs, but droughts have been around for centuries and farmers know what they are getting into.
    Having said that, I would like to see a lot more money redirected from other noble feel-good Government programs into more assistance for our own farmers and Primary producers.
     
  3. TAJ

    TAJ Well-Known Member

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    I recall watching a documentary on the ABC probably a decade ago now (as time gets away) about the plight of our farmers throughout drought. In this particular doco they showed a rambling property of thousands of acres, an elaborate homestead, more than half a dozen newish Landcruisers and multiple harvesters worth up toward 300k a pop and the owners crying poor mouth.
    While there are no doubt some doing it tough, there are plenty of wealthy farmers.
    What they don't tell you is during the "Good" years they make bucket loads. It would seem that they don't filter off the excess profit to cover the lean years; instead they go out and purchase the latest equipment, often borrowing again and consequently when things go south, fall into financial hardship.
    Be very wary of who exactly you are donating to.
     
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  4. Noobieboy

    Noobieboy Well-Known Member

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    Thanks for posting this. Wealth doesn’t always equal generosity. A lot of wealthy people here are self centred, cheap and angry. Unfortunately it’s not like the US where philanthropy is at a he centre of wealth creation.

    I hope the weather improves soon.
     
  5. Noobieboy

    Noobieboy Well-Known Member

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    A lot of farmers are just that. Farmers. They are not particularly financially literate. They will have a good year and banks would be jumping over themselves offering loans to “grow your farm” even when farmers don’t need it. There are too many variables here to blame just the cohort that grows your food.
     
  6. TAJ

    TAJ Well-Known Member

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    The particular Farm / Property in the documentary was a generational one. It had been in the family for close to 100 years; so likely they had seen a few droughts over that time span wouldn't you think?
    I think you would find that a high percentage of the Australian population are not overly financially literate; otherwise there wouldn't be so much bad debt.
     
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  7. spludgey

    spludgey Well-Known Member

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    Now I hope that there aren’t any farmers on here that are affected directly, because what I’m going to say would be quite insensitive to them at this point in time.


    Would you feel sorry for an investor that bought a house that was in an earthquake prone area and could expect an earthquake every 10 years or less?

    I see this as something quite similar. We know that weather conditions are going to become more extreme and we also know that there will be droughts. In my mind much of the grazing (that’s really what we’re talking about for the most part) land that we use just does not lend itself for continuous grazing. I won’t get into the discussion of how it’s ridiculous to have 44% of Australia’s land as grazing areas, nor the environmental impacts or the live export debate, but even if we just look at the knowledge that there will be a drought in most 10 year periods, I think it’s crazy not to expect to be going through rough times.


    Now I know that what I’m saying does nothing to help the farmers and livestock hurting here and now and I actually do feel for them! But I think it should definitely be looked into for the bigger picture.
     
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  8. krispy

    krispy Well-Known Member

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    I often wonder about this too. We have known for well over 200 years its a country of droughts and flooding rains so the poem goes yet it seems to come as a surprise to some farmers when it comes. Maybe we need to look at more sustainable farming practices for the land that we have. Look into ways to get through the drought and ways to better look after the land when there is no rain. I cant imagine constant grazing has helped with water run off. Reducing stock when droughts are coming so they dont starve. I dont know. I am a city girl so really have no idea but just seems like the same story over and over again and I cant imagine that is easy for any family to go through or the animals.
     
  9. Illusivedreams

    Illusivedreams Well-Known Member

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    This drought is compared to some of the worst in Australian recorded History.
    @TAJ
    The news show a couple of wealthy properties.
    Mate that's the news 1000s of small operators are making due with many years of little to no rainfall some good years that doesn't make up for the bad years.

    Like I said I work in Sydney but travel our gorgeous country.

    We have some of the best food in the world.
    ITs our major export.

    These people need support. They don't have any where near enough.

    Sydney get busy our government drops Billions of dollars into roads
    Melbourne needs another airport sure lets build one more

    Sydney needs an airport hell yeah lets build one more.


    When was the last time the government built a dam or a desalination plant and pump water into areas that need it?

    When was the last time the government spend billions on irrigations.

    Hey if you are Gas giant and export the **** to other countries and leave nothing for us. Sure we wil give you money hand over fist.

    But if you are on the land the government does sweet **** all.

    Im a city boy never lived in the country a day in my life. But im outraged by the governments lack of support for one of our most vital assets. FOOD.
    Its a matter of national security and sovereignty like nothing else.

    Its very easy to see a Toyota Landrcruser and say ooh they are doing well they just waisted the money. Where these people live a Corolla would not make the lengths of the driveway.
    Unlike their city plumbers and sparkies that ROLLING in Brand new Ford Rangers for $65,000 A POP.
     
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  10. Illusivedreams

    Illusivedreams Well-Known Member

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    Maybe we should stop sending the RFS next time their is fire? Say in Vitoria or blue mountains.
    Hey we have bush fire all the time, should have known.

    We are society of people and we help our own.
     
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  11. Cousinit

    Cousinit Well-Known Member

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    What happened to Topcropper ? I'm sure he would have plenty to say on agriculture...

    We own two farms which are leased out now . The management skills of farming people and their financial literacy varies just as much as the general community. There are some very sharp operators out there , as well as those less so .

    Lots of change running through ag with all the fake foods produced now . Fake meat and lab produced milk etc .
     
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  12. LVR

    LVR Well-Known Member

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    Well said.
    Where I grew up it was mostly wheat and rice farms, a few sheep and a few cattle too.
    And even if they were cattle farmers - the farting cow argument is disproven already.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: 27th Jul, 2018
  13. TAJ

    TAJ Well-Known Member

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    As I said in post # 3 some no doubt are doing it tough. Smaller operations like you said probably make up the majority of those falling on hard times along with larger operations that quite simply are poorly managed.
    I'm well aware that 4WD vehicles are required on farms. I often work within the agricultural industry and have to travel to reasonably remote locations along unsealed rutted roads in my own 4WD work vehicle. My point about the 6 or more Landcruisers was that they were relatively new at around 60k+ each. If they are suffering financial hardship then why are they holding top of the range vehicles? Why not sell a couple, or at least purchase some that are less expensive.
    My brother has a large property in the Central West of NSW. He produces wheat, sorghum, barley and canola. When they have a good year, they are rolling in it! Fortunately for his family he has been wise enough to realise not every year is the same and consequently stash some away for the lean times. He understands that all the mod cons he could have come at a cost, so he is prepared to continue to maintain his older machinery and keep his head above water.
    Granted they do need rain..... and lots of it!
     
  14. krispy

    krispy Well-Known Member

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    Im not saying we don't help. Of course we should help.
    I just question if maybe there is a better way to support the farms rather than sending feed and water in the long term. This isn't something that is going to happen every 100 years or so like a fire in the area. When a fire happens they look at ways of prevention and better building codes for the future. This has happened quite a few times in my lifetime already. Seems same story over and over again with the loss of lots of animals to hunger and lots of our farmers to suicide.
     
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  15. bmc

    bmc Well-Known Member

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    I also travel around the state for work and have seen what these stoic tough farmers endure for the love of working on the land.
    I'll gladly buy a bale or few.
    apparently my milk doesnt come from woollies at balmain
     
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  16. spludgey

    spludgey Well-Known Member

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    I'm pretty sure most of the cattle in question are beef cattle, not milk cattle.
    I think milk cattle often get feed instead of grazing anyway.
     
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  17. Simon Hampel

    Simon Hampel Founder Staff Member

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    This thread is about farmers who are struggling - not about climate change, nor about anyone's ideology. {Note - posts about farming practices and climate change have been moved to a different thread}

    I'm rather disappointed with the entitled attitude and privilege shown by some city dwellers who feel they are qualified to comment and make broad sweeping generalisations about farmers and farming.

    Some farmers do well and thus none are worthy of our support? Those that are struggling due to drought obviously haven't saved enough for the bad times?

    That's almost like saying that people who are homeless don't deserve our support because there are plenty of vacant houses around - or we all own lots of houses and are doing quite well - why didn't they plan better?

    Do you even understand what a drought means? It's not about having one dry season - some parts of Queensland are in their 6th year of drought with no sign of it ending soon. Do you have sufficient buffer in your investment portfolio to survive 6 years without income?

    Don't be so heartless and dismissive. Nobody is asking you to bail out the wealthy farmers - they are asking you to help people who are genuinely in need.
     
    Last edited: 27th Jul, 2018
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  18. Illusivedreams

    Illusivedreams Well-Known Member

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    Thank you so much Simon.
     
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  19. Propagate

    Propagate Well-Known Member

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    Privileged city dwellers? That's a bit of a broad sweeping generalization.

    No one is begrudging helping those in need. I've expressed my personal view on a public forum in a thread where people are being asked to hand over money.

    If climate change is linked to drought and changing weather patterns then it fits within the context of the thread. If climate change is creating an environment where current and past farming practices are no longer viable due to prolonged droughts then how are bail outs a solution, it's just prolonging the problem until alternative solutions are found to raise food more effectively in areas less prone to harsh conditions?

    I'm not a privileged city dweller and I'd be happy to contribute to something that aided farmers in changing practices to mitigate these issues in the future, whether that's closing down and relocating or turning their farms over to farming less resource intensive crops. I don't have the answers but if these prolonged droughts are here to stay then bailing out isn't the solution just to have to bail out again next year, and the year after and the year after in the hope that one day it'll start raining again.
     
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  20. spludgey

    spludgey Well-Known Member

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