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.
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