Drought has ravaged large swathes of Australia's eastern states from Queensland to Tasmania.
Already dubbed an "ecosystem in crisis" by one report, the drought has had a worsening effect on the Darling River where at least one farmer has said combined with poor water quality, he's finding it hard to stay in the industry.
Wayne Smith is a goat and sheep farmer at Karoola Station in outback New South Wales. He said poor quality water and low river levels have stripped him of his organic certification.
"Now there are a few remnant pools around the place,” he said.
Source: Aneeta Bhole/SBS News
“They're about the colour of lime cordial at the moment, so to me they're not quality water.
“As part of our certification we need to have good quality, fresh, clean water for the animals at all times."
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He said losing his accreditation has increased the financial strain on him.
“We've lost money off the bottom line really that's a couple of dollars a kilo that we lose as a premium for organic status,” he said.
“It’s usually about $2 a kilo generally, sometimes it’s a bit closer together depending on supply and demand.
“At the moment there’s no organic market at all, there’s just such a lack of organic lamb around.”
Mr Smith says the Darling River that runs through his property Karoola used to be a natural barrier for his livestock. Source: Aneeta Bhole
Mr Smith used to oversee 3,000 sheep, but with the drought worsening access to water he's had to reduce numbers to 800.
"There usually manages to be a month or two of rain in there somewhere that just saves you for a few months,” he said.
“It usually helps keep the stock alive without hand feeding, whereas we've had to feed nearly twelve months in a row.
“We've fed our sheep hay to try and keep our numbers up and we’ve sort of had to give up a bit.”
The local mud mussels have dried up and died but were once a natural filter in the Darling River. Source: Aneeta Bhole
Increasing concern
Upstream, cattle farmer Glenn Morris has stopped for a beer in Menindee.
The town saw one of Australia's largest fish kills last summer.
Mr Morris said he travelled over 12 hours from Inverell, near the Queensland border, to the town.
He said he wanted to see first-hand the impact low water levels and prevailing drought have had on the Darling River after his own battle with dry conditions.
Mr Smith used to have 3,000 sheep on his property. Source: Aneeta Bhole
"Where I'm from all the trees are dying from lack of water and from the extra heat,” he said.
“Across the mid-latitudes of the world, not only in Australia, losing temperate plants is affecting the water cycle.
“We're already in trouble, so I'm super concerned by what I’m seeing.”
Water experts have said unpredictable conditions are going to make water management difficult.
Mr Smith also has goats on his property. Source: Aneeta Bhole
University of Sydney hydrologist Professor Willem Vervoort said "we’ll be seeing longer and deeper droughts. But they will be interspaced with possibly very high floods or very wet periods”.
“The combination of those things is not going to make it easier to manage the system.”
But, Mr Vervoot said, weather predictions for summer aren’t promising.
“The prediction to January is really, really bad and I think in my 20 years in Australia I haven’t seen it this bad.”
SBS documentary Struggle Street returns this month to highlight issues of disadvantage in rural and regional Australia, including drought. Watch Season 3 on Wednesdays at 8.30pm. Episodes will stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
