Rural Requiem -- or Revival

Agriculture ... horticulture ... farming generally.

In Australia, as in any country, the farmer depends on the weather for the success of his enterprise. Even those who have the benefit of irrigation still depend on rain being there to fill the storage dams and reservoirs.

All farming depends on weather conditions and the variation of each season. Conditions outside the control of the farmer or grazier.
Why do they keep on trying? How do they expect to make a reasonable living when they have no control at all over the conditions that make or break, financially, their endeavours?
Most understand that, as they are dependent on Nature, they must learn to read the signs Mother Nature provides and act according to the indications they get from those signs, and what the weather forecasters can tell them.
Nature has a pattern of breeding for its animals and birds. This pattern is variable and changes according to what is coming in the next season.
For instance, here we are in the middle of summer and rabbits are breeding, birds are feeding their young in the tree by the drive, our chickens are going broody and wanting to set on eggs. All signs of a very good season coming.
So, what do we deduce from that. Time to sow something? What?
A little bit of homework needed to find out what will produce: a. An income or b. fodder for farm animals already on the farm or for sale to others. Most grain crops are winter growers and take months to mature and are therefore quite risky to grow as the later weeks may not have good growing conditions. Feed crops mature earlier but have limited potential for producing an income; on the other hand feed crops may insure that farm animals are in top condition when sent to market. More decisions to make.

So the essential assessment of variables continues. To sow or not to sow. The consequences of not sowing are usually a massive proliferation of inedible weeds and noxious ones at that. The sowing option looks better every day. If nothing else is sown such as wheat, oats, barley etc, maybe just bits of grass would help.
Any sown grass must be better than inedible rubbish. Ask the cows or the sheep.
For grass pastures those grasses that grow naturally may well be the best choice. If they are native to the area before the advent of the first ploughs that killed them off, they must be survivors. This land is used to extremes of temperature and rainfall, so are the native grasses that grew here. Many farmers tend to plant foreign grasses and feed crops because they give a better cash return in a good year. However, in bad year they return nothing at all.
Much is said about cleared paddocks, big machinery, fertiliser, special machinery for special jobs, and genetically modified seed. All are promoting sales of their product, not the viability of your farm. It's a nightmare trying to make a good living on a rural property when there are so many variables to consider.
Climate change is going to happen. It's always changing, whether we go for emission trading or not, whether we reduce emissions or not. There is sufficient evidence that the climate varies at the whim of mother nature, regardless of what we puny humans do, or don't do. Various thoughts about Emission Trading Schemes won't affect anything except the pockets of the consumers. We are all being brainwashed to believe that we puny humans can change things around. Emission Trading schemes are nothing more than another method for the fat cats of the business [?] world to make more money for themselves at the cost of everyone.
Some suggestions for those engaged in agricultural, horticultural, pastoral or animal husbandry businesses in Australias vast rural areas.
1. Learn the signs mother gives and what they mean.
2. Use what is there, courtesy of mother nature, to best advantage.
3. Work with what you have, not try to get what some machinery manufacturer tells you is the greatest thing since sliced bread.
To make my position in this very clear, I am not a farmer. I have worked on many farms in many areas over a long period of time. What I am is an observer with a very curious and analytical mind, and I have been on this earth for a long time, always in a rural area.
Every area is different and each farmer has to rely on their own judgement as to what action to take. Dept of Agriculture staff and various other research agencies involved with agriculture can help with advice and suggestions. The farmer has to have the final say
As the climate changes come about, new procedures and methods of farming will be necessary. Mother Nature will still provide indicators as she has done for centuries. We humans are the ones who have so much to learn so that we may cope with the changes that will come.