The Premier’s Special Adviser on Drought, Dean Brown, and members of the Rangelands Drought Taskforce and Liz Connell the Northern Drought Co-ordinator, will travel to the Northern Flinders on 1-2 September. They will visit Hawker, Blinman and Beltana to meet with pastoralists to discuss drought impacts, effects and strategies for success.

South Australian farmers will soon be equipped with the latest information to assist them in making informed decisions about how they respond to climate change, thanks to the Advisory Board of Agriculture.

The Board has been awarded $100,000 under the Australian Government National Landcare Programme - Sustainable Practices Grant, to assist farmers implement climate change practices that are specific for their region.

The two-year project, "Responding to Climate Variability at a Local Level", will provide farmers with the latest information and projections for their regions, enabling them to plan and adjust their farming systems to manage future risks.

The project, to be delivered by Rural Solutions SA is expected to commence next month and will involve regional workshops across the State, which will include presentations from CSIRO and SARDI on future trends predicted for climate and rainfall.

Farmers will also have the opportunity to identify and prioritise issues that are impacting on their farming systems and develop an action plan of activities for their region. This could result in trials, demonstrations or training sessions, which will enable them to look more in-depth at different machinery or farming systems that could be adopted to better manage erosion or low-rain fall impacts.

The Expert Social Panel that is investigating the social impacts of the drought for the Australian Government conducted four meetings in SA this week.

Key issues raised generally at the Gawler forum included financial stress linked not only to farmers, but to all aspects of communities, impacts of youth leaving communities, layers of stress including rising commodity prices and the need to look and plan for key triggers in communities.

Suggestions raised included additional support to organisations such as the Country Women’s Association by the Australian Government, additional support to State Governments in support services such as health and community funds, greater support for non farm businesses and greater focus on social isolation.

The Riverland Drought Co-ordinator Barb Cowey and the Northern Drought Coordinator Liz Connell along with the Premier’s Special Advisor on Drought, Dean Brown, attended the meeting at Gawler, along with 30 other participants, of which 13 were from the Riverland.

At Orroroo the panel met with approx 45 farmers and pastoralists. Liz Connell Northern Drought Coordinator reports that the panel were given a thorough account of the challenges that drought brings to individuals and communities. The participants were able to provide a number of examples of solutions that the panel could consider in its proposal including support for farmer based groups, infrastructure in small communities, coordination of services, review of criteria for support, review of existing gifting rules and the need to promote the big picture of agriculture and increase the value of rural and farming communities.

The panel congratulated the participants for their frank account of the situation and praised the positive attitudes and support shown for their communities.

The Northern Drought Coordinator, Liz Connell attended the Climate Change forum hosted by the Birchip Cropping Group and supported by the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF)  at Balaklava on 22 August.

Titled "Communicating Climate Change" the presenters outlined the drivers of climate change, the indicators from recent seasons and the adaptation and mitigation options available. A brief presentation introduced the principles of the Green paper and the likely impacts on agriculture. The final presentation on the complexity of decision-making provided a social context.

About 70 farmers attended and most expressed some confidence in managing and adapting in the period up to 2040; but there was general concern for the future of farming enterprises in the period leading up to the end of the century.

Adelaide householders can make better environmental choices by typing their suburb into a new State Government website www.backyards4wildlife.com.au

Minister for Environment and Conservation Jay Weatherill says the ongoing drought has made it hard for people to maintain suburban gardens. Most people want to “do the right thing” by using less water and helping conserve local flora and fauna by encouraging wildlife into their gardens. The website enables people to know which plants are best suited to their area.

The website was developed by the Department for Environment and Heritage’s Urban Biodiversity Unit with support from the Adelaide and Mount Lofty Ranges Natural Resources Management Board and the Australian Government.

The Australian Government has allocated $26.5 million over four years to boost training opportunities for primary producers, and to enable industry, farming groups and natural resource management groups develop strategies to adapt and respond to the impacts of climate change.

Two grants will be available through the FarmReady program: Primary Producer Reimbursement Grant and Industry Grant.

Further information about the FarmReady program will be available in the coming months. Updates will be provided on the website:  http://www.daff.gov.au/agriculture-food/australias-farming-future/farmready or telephone 1800 638 746.

The Bureau of Meteorology reports that current statistical climate indicators show that across a region of central to southern SA, roughly centred on Port Augusta there is a 60 to 65% chance of receiving below average rain falls. For other parts of South Australia the chance of receiving average falls is close to normal.

For far south eastern parts of the state in relation to temperature, there is a 60% to 65% chance of experiencing warmer than average maximum temperatures with remaining areas likely to experience near median maximum temperatures through the period. Across all of South Australia the chance of experiencing warmer than normal minimum temperatures is between 60% to 80%. Information can be sourced from the Water and Land site http://www.bom.gov.au/watl/index.shtml where rainfall and temperature outlook information has been recently upgraded.

Experimental data available from http://poama.bom.gov.au suggests September and October rainfall over southern areas will be near normal but October rainfall is likely to be below average across all of the state. This experimental site contains information from the Bureau’s dynamic computer model (not statistical). You can obtain outlook information on a fortnightly basis out to six weeks and a monthly basis to eight months ahead. Please note that the model has shown useful skill only out to about four months ahead.

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The information in this publication can be provided on request to those who need it in an alternative format or another language. Contact PIRSA Communications and Marketing. Telephone (08) 8226 0539.

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