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Vol. 17 No. 18
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Wednesday, October 29, 2014
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CREATIVE MINDS: The community celebrated the completion of Natimuk’s Small Town Transformation on Friday, gathering to view the redesign of the town’s central median strip – The Verj – on Friday. Artists have worked for the past 18 months to transform public spaces into functional and inviting attractions, drawing on the town’s heritage and strengths. Pictured from left, Kelly Gray, Lani Jones and Ella Cox, hamming it up at Natimuk skate park. Kelly was also a participant in photographer Melissa Powell’s ‘Welcome to Natimuk’ portrait banners, which adorn Main Street. The portraits and audio of why each participant loves Natimuk is at www. natimukverj.com. Picture: MELISSA POWELL PHOTOGRAPHY
Region steels itself BY DEAN LAWSON
W
immera development leaders are confident that hard-hit farming communities across the region have the management experience and resilience to strongly push through a disastrous cropping season.
Wimmera Development Association executive director Jo Bourke said 13 years of drought had galvanised the sector and Wimmera-Mallee farmers had sharpened their reputation as the best broadacre crop
managers in the world. She said experience meant that regional farmers and support networks had never been better prepared for poor years and many had already swung plans into action. “We all have an enormous amount of faith in the resilience and management ability of our farmers. There were a lot of lessons learnt during the millennium drought, importantly how to look after each other and business debt and to plan for worst-case scenarios,” she said.
Mrs Bourke made her comments in response to reports of wholesale crop failures or meagre harvest returns across the region due to a lack of late winter and spring rain and, in some areas, frost damage. She agreed that there was no way of sugar-coating regional farming circumstances. But she was quick to add that there was broad understanding across the sector that it potentially faced a dryer future. “I know it means little for farmers facing a tough year in the short term, but there is an
enormous amount of research going into crop development and land management and sustainability in response to dryer conditions,” she said. “For example, we’re seeing farmers explore a diversity of crops to help spread the risk and having plans in place to quickly make the most of what they can salvage when things don’t go to plan and to immediately look to the following season. “It is important to remember that at the moment we’re talking about one poor season
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which, when you talk to any long-term farmer in the region, is part of agricultural life in the Wimmera-Mallee. “What we’ve learnt, especially after all those years of drought, is that it is important for everyone to remain confident in themselves, their product, their communities and their region. “Large multi-national companies are investing heavily in the region’s agriculture and they wouldn’t be doing that if they believed there was no longterm future in the industry.”
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Mrs Bourke said it was important that regional communities educated themselves about the circumstances and, in times of poor seasons, stuck together. “For example, the average person can lessen the flow-on effect of a poor harvest on regional business by making sure they shop locally whenever possible. It is times like this that sharpen the senses and underline why we are constantly pushing the Wimmera – Everything You Need message,” she said.