Farmers 'poorer and more depressed'

by sweet east pearl | July 8, 2008 at 04:15 pm

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MORE than one in five Australian farmers in drought-affected areas have had to pawn or sell something because of lack of money, a study reveals. And more than one-third say farm production is at its lowest level ever.

AUSTRALIA'S farmers are both poorer and more depressed as a result of the drought, according to a major new report on the impact of the big dry.

The new Federal Government-funded survey of rural and regional Australia shows financial hardship is widespread, suffered by a quarter of all 8000 households questioned in the past year, but farms are in the eye of the drought storm.

Two-thirds of people working on farms in drought-affected areas said their financial position had slipped in the past three years, compared to 51 per cent unaffected by drought.