Preparations were well in hand for this week’s “drought forum” which is designed to help farmers in need from the Glen Innes and Tenterfield areas.
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At the session which starts at 10 am, there will be concrete help in the form of hampers of food and other goods which have been trucked up from further south, and also information about aid which may be available from the Commonwealth, state and local governments.
The forum was to be held at the Services Club in Glen Innes on Wednesday morning, running through to 3 pm.
A bus from Tenterfield had been booked.
One of the organisers, David Donnelly who farms to the east of Glen Innes, said: “The Salvation Army will be bringing food and household hampers for those needy families who have their backs to the wall.”
The aim was to “inform and assist” so there would be tables set out by the various organisations to offer information on what help might be available.
“The need is growing because people are finding greater difficulty in keeping their stock going”.
This area is not as badly hit as further south but it is getting worse. Mr Donnelly said that even if rains came before the spring, it would take several years for farms to recover.
Non-essential work was being postponed and that meant that tasks like fence-mending would eventually have to be done.
Parasites and pests might be on the increase as attention is diverted to more urgent and immediate issues.
Mr Donnelly is one of the driving forces behind the “R U Aware We Care” fund-raising campaign as the chairman of the regional group of community radio stations which has promoted it.
He said that apart from the help available, farmers might want to come on Wednesday just to meet people and get some relief from the farm, albeit only for part of the day.