1. Family Farms Are Facing an Uncertain Future
A medium sized vineyard ready for harvest. Photograph by Lim Sue Yee.
Australiaisacountryof droughtsandfloodsandextremeclimatesthankstothe geographical location
and the patterns of El Niño and La Nina. Despite that, famers have always found ways to thrive on
Australianclimateandagriculture hasremainedamajor sectorinAustralia’seconomy,occupyingover
13% of the country’s export revenue. However, at the turn of the millennium, Australia witnessed
whatmightnow be betterknownas‘The Big Dry’ or the ‘MillenniumDrought’.
The Millennium Drought was possibly the worst recorded drought in Australian history since the
settlement. Itisbelievedtostartin1997 and lastedformore thana decade.DavidKaroly,aprofessor
in the School of Earth Science inthe Universityof Melbourne explained,“TypicallyEl Niñoonlyleads
to droughts for one year, but what we had was an extendedperiod of dry conditions”. To add on to
the disaster,the breakof the decade-longdroughtcame withhigh level rainfall,causingfloods. “The
natural rain patternswasunusual because itlastedfortwoyears”ProfessorKarolydescribed.
Samuel PatrickChisari’sfamilyfarmsin Mildurahas beeninthe familyforthree generations. “If you
go to Mildura, there will be patches of land that are fully back and running now, but there are huge
blocksthat have nothinggrowingonthembecause theirvineshave died.” Hispaternal andmaternal
familyeachhada farm, butduringthe MillenniumDrought,they hadtogive upone farmto keepthe
otherrunning.MediumsizedfarmslikeMrChisari’s familymayhave survived,butmanyof the smaller
sizedfarmsneverrecoveredfromthe MillenniumDrought. “Small farmersgotwipedoutandthe big
farmssurvived”Mr Chisari said.
The deathsof small family farmsare onlythe beginning.“We are backintoanotherdroughtcycle.Last
yearhadverylowrainfall.Sothere’salotof farmswhichdidn’treallygettimetorecover,haveenough
yearsof good seasonstorecoverbefore theygetreallydryagain.”Melanie Gordon,apolicymanager
of VictorianFarmersFederation(VFF),said. ProfessorKarolyalsoexpressedthe sameconcern,“Many
farmerstook advantage of the more normal conditionsinlate 2012 and 2013, but it may be not long
enoughtoallowthemtore-establishtheirfarmsandpayoff theirdebts, somanyof themare suffering
againfrom the currentdrought.”

2. The MillenniumDroughtwas by far the worst farmershad experienced,anditis not going to be the
last. “Back inthe days,peopleusedtothinkthat(droughts) mightcome aroundif we are unlucky,but
now it feels like it’s definitely going to happen again”, Mr Chisari described. Although the current
drought are expected to break up this year, predictions are seeing an increase in the frequency of
droughts due to human-caused climate change. “If human caused climate change is happening, and
has beenshownto be happeningall around the worldwith increasesintemperature,thatis leading
to the reductioninwintertime rainfall acrossmuch of southernAustralia,particularlysouth-eastern
Australia.” Professor Karoly explained, “What we experienced in the Millennium Drought has been
argued to be consistent with what we expected from humancaused climate change,but it was also
likelytobe natural.”
This has led to a trend observed on many familyfarm. “There’s a lot of older people working on the
landnow”Mr Chisari said,“The oldergenerationsare workinglongerbecause insteadof the younger
generationscomingthrough,theyare the onlyonesleftthere now.” While farminggave stabilityfor
ancient civilization to establish, it has now developed into a high risk business as Australian climate
becomesincreasinglyextreme. Youngergeneration have startedlooking towardsthe cityfora lower
risks and more stable career. “Those are the longer lasting effects of the drought, what it did to
people’smindframe.Isfarmingaviablethingtodo?”he said,“Idon’tthinkanyone knowswhatwould
happennowwiththe farm.”
Eventhoughthere are manymethods (forexample,changingwateringsystemsand changingtocrops
that thrive inwarm conditions) forfarmersto cope withdroughts,Mr Chisari believesthathisfamily
farm will not be able to survive another drought similar to the Millennium Drought. “You could tell
someone there isnotgoingto be any waternextyear,the farmerswouldn’tknow,there isnotmuch
theycoulddo to prepare themselves.There isonlysomuchwaterwe can store in our backyard.” Mr
Chisari explained.
However, VFFremainoptimisticof the future of thefarmingcommunity.Gordonbelievesthatfarmers
will be able to find their way around climate change. “Farmers have always adapted to changing
conditions. They are used to droughts and floods.They may not like them, but they sort of manage
aroundthem.So any changesin the climate thatare occurring, theyare sort of graduallyadaptingas
thingschange”,she explained.
As Australian climate remain as unpredictable as it has always been, the future of the small sized
farmingcommunityremainsuncertainwithit.
Words: 858

3. Contact Details
Samuel PatrickChisari
- Phone:04-39630287
- samchisari@gmail.com
Melanie Gordon
- Phone:1300 882 833
- members@vff.org.au
ProfessorDavidKaroly
- Phone:+61 3 8344 4698
- dkaroly@unimelb.edu.au
Bibliography
AustralianGovernment:Bureauof Meteorology(2016) Recent rainfall,droughtand southern
Australia'slong-termrainfalldecline, available at:
http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/updates/articles/a010-southern-rainfall-decline.shtml
Liddy,M., Elvery,S.& Spraggon,B. (13 May 2014) Interactive:100 years of droughtin Australia, ABC
News,Melbourne,availableat: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-02-26/100-years-of-
drought/5282030
Wahlquist,A.(11 October2008) “Longest,hottestdroughtonrecord,says Bureauof Meteorology”,
The Australian,availableathttp://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/longest-hottest-drought-on-
record/story-e6frg6n6-1111117721981

4. Self-Reflection
I realise thatenvironmentalreportingis usually notasattractive asother fieldsof reporting asmany
environmental reportinginvolvesagreatdeal of statisticsandtechnical jargonswhich isunappealing
to people withoutascience background.Unlike economicreporting,althoughitinvolvesheapsof
statisticsandtechnical termsaswell, economicnewsare somethingmostpeople canrelatedtoas
everyone’sdailylife involvesmoney.Environmentandclimate change,onthe otherhand,seem
distant.
The MillenniumDroughtwasastrangerto me until IstartedresearchingaboutAustralianclimate to
finda story,mostprobablybecause it wasbrokenyearsbefore Icame to Australia.Andbecause of
Australia’snaturallydryclimate,Ididnotrealise we are currentlygoingthroughanotherdrought.
That was whenIrealisedthere couldbe more peopleasignorantasI was,and the farmersare
sufferingforit.While bigcorporationfarmsare now thriving,manyfamilyfarmsneverfully
recovered,and manyof us remainignoranttoit because we have supermarkets. Farmersare
strugglingfrombothclimate change andcapitalism.
Thiswas somethingenlighteningandthe farmerswere the voiceless.Itwasa goodangle as it
involvesclimate change directlyyetsilently (Fahn,16March 2009). Pickingupthisstorywas the best
decisionImade forthe assignment.Iwantedtotry localisingenvironmental reportinginlayman
termsso more people maybe able torelate. However,IfeltthatIcame to thisdecisiontoolate and
I didnot getthe time I neededtoresearchbefore myinterviews. Iwasluckytoget reasonably
credible intervieweeswhogave goodresponses.
Overall,thisassignmenthastaughtme that the angle youchose forone issue isextremely
important.Choosinganissue outof mycomfort zone,Ifoundan angle thatdoesnot feel tooaliento
me.
Words: 313
Bibliography
Fahn,J. (16 March 2009) “Climate change:How to reportthe story of the century”, Science and
DevelopmentNetwork.