‘I don't know how we come back from this': Australia's big dry sucks life from once-proud towns

Australia is experiencing one of its most severe droughts on record, resulting in desperate water shortages across large parts of New South Wales and southern Queensland. Dams in some parts of western NSW have all but dried up, with rainfall levels through the winter in the lowest 10% of historical records in some areas.

Sheep kick up the dust in a bare paddock on a
property along the Brewarrina-Coolabah road in Central NSW. 

The crisis in the far west of the state became unavoidable after the mass fish kills along the lower Darling River last summer, but now much bigger towns closer to the coast, including Dubbo, are also running out of water.

Residents of three distinct areas talked to Guardian Australia about the state of their towns under extreme stress from water shortages, expressing anxiety about their future but also determination to keep communities alive.

Read the story from The Guardian by Anne Davies, Ben Smee and Lorena Allam - “‘I don't know how we come back from this': Australia's big dry sucks life from once-proud towns.”

Bushfires rage across southern Queensland, residents told to immediately leave Sarabah, Binna Burra, too late to leave Stanthorpe.

Emergency warnings have been issued for three out-of-control bushfires as more than 50 fires burn across southern Queensland amid potentially catastrophic, hot and windy conditions.

Bushfire rages near Sarabah in the Gold Coast hinterland.

Two of the warnings are for fires burning at Sarabah and Beechmont, south of Canungra in the Gold Coast Hinterland. One home has been destroyed, others are under threat, and residents of Sarabah, Binna Burra and Beechmont have been told to evacuate.

At Stanthorpe and Applethorpe, on the Granite Belt, people have been told it is too late to leave as a "very dangerous" fire moves east towards the town.

Meanwhile, south of the Queensland border, at least two houses have been lost in Tenterfield in northern NSW and a firefighter has suffered facial injuries as an out-of-control fire is fuelled by strong winds.

Read the ABC News story - “Bushfires rage across southern Queensland, residents told to immediately leave Sarabah, Binna Burra, too late to leave Stanthorpe."

Helping farmers in distress doesn’t help them be the best: the drought relief dilemma

Two years ago we were celebrating just about the best year for farmers ever. Now many farmers – particularly in New South Wales and southern Queensland – are in the grip of drought.

How do you best help farmers strugging with a drought?

It underlines just how variable the Australian climate can be.

While attention is focused on responding to the current situation, it is important to also think long-term. In our rush to help, we need to make sure well-meaning responses don’t do more harm than good.

The recent drought has stimulated much empathy for farmers from the media, governments and the public. Federal and state governments have committed hundreds of millions of dollars in farmer support. Private citizens and companies have also given generously to the cause.

Read the story from The Conversation - “Helping farmers in distress doesn’t help them be the best: the drought relief dilemma.”

(Had a living wage been paid to all Australians, including farmers, the dilemma about how we support those struggling with the drought would have been changed, simplified and maybe erased completely - Robert McLean)

Severe dry to cut grain harvest in half

The severe dry that has smashed crops in NSW and southern Queensland is expected to slash total grain production this season and affect business conditions in farming communities where grain is a key industry, the nation's largest agribusiness has warned.

GrainCorp's underlying net profit surged in fiscal 2017 to $142 million.

Discussing GrainCorp's bumper full-year results for fiscal 2017, including an underlying net profit that nearly tripled to $142 million, managing director Mark Palmquist said this year's harvest would be "tremendously smaller", and in response the company would run a leaner harvest operation, with some sites to stay closed because of the lower volumes.

GrainCorp, an integrated grains handler, exporter and processor, said while the crop would be substantially smaller than last year, production would be skewed towards Victoria and southern NSW.

Rabobank senior grains and oilseeds analyst Cheryl Kalisch Gordon said Rabobank had forecast a "national drop of 41 percent from last year's record grain harvest. This is also down 19 percent on the five-year average prior to last year, which really puts the drop in context.

Read Darren Gray’s story in the Melbourne Age - “Severe dry to cut grain harvest in half.”

Using circular economies to fight food waste

Bernadette McCabe - she wants us to recover
and do something useful with food waste.

Around 4 million tonnes of food reaches landfill in Australia each year. This forms part of Australia’s organic waste, the country’s largest unrecovered stream of waste that goes into landfill.

There’s a missed opportunity here to recover this waste and do something useful with it. In particular, we can use it for energy such as biofuel. This forms part of a broader concept known as the “circular economy”.

In the absence of federal initiatives, state and local governments and communities are developing projects to foster a circular economy that can absorb this and other waste. This would then provide usable products to assist businesses and households and improve sustainability.

Read the piece on The Conversation by the Associate Professor and Principal Scientist at the University of Southern Queensland, Bernadette McCabe - “Australian communities are fighting food waste with circular economies.”