The Victorian and Federal governments have partnered up to provide $50 million in emergency relief to farmers struggling under the weight of the state’s devastating bushfire crisis. Announcing the $50 million bounty on Wednesday January 14, Premier Jacinta Allan said the funding was part of an “initial” step to assist stricken rural communities to get back on their feet after fires had consumed hundreds of thousands of hectares across almost every corner of Victoria.
They agreed to add an additional $40 million for direct farm grants and another $10 million for low-interest loans. The arrival of the financial lifeline comes as the full extent of the disaster becomes clear with over 1,000 farms now identified as fire-affected and livestock losses believed to have exceeded more than 15,000 animals.
Massive Recovery Grants for Rebuilding
Now, farmers who qualify can apply for the grants, which offer as much as $75,000 to help with a Herculean task: cleaning up and starting over. These grants are designed to assist with the high cost of replacing kilometres of lost fenceline, safely disposing of dead livestock and hiring equipment to enable debris to be immediately cleared.
“When you think about some of the families that are out there, they’re on their hands and knees going through inches of ash, it’s just a really confronting stuff to have to do,” Premier Jacinta Allan said. The idea of the grant program is to get cash flow running so that producers can think only about surviving and taking care of their animals in a disaster instead of stressing about the up-front price for breakdowns.
Long-term Assistance Via Concessionary Loans
Beyond the one-off grants, it is offering low-interest loans up to $250,000 for primary producers. These loans are also available at lower interest rates and with favourable repayment terms, the long-term capital needed to replace machinery, tractors and irrigation systems that went up in flames.
The Premier said these loans were an opportunity to save the industry, also by recognising that assets have been damaged or levelled altogether to the tune of tens of millions of dollars. By offering longer-term support, the government wants to continue the tradition of farming families not being forced off their land by economic necessity.
A Crisis on the Farm
The Victorian Farmers Federation has launched its ‘It’s a Crisis’ campaign to declare the present situation as officially a “crisis” for agriculture in the state. “It’s heartbreaking for those farmers who have spent a lifetime building up their property,” President Brett Hosking said. “Stubble can still be valuable, but we also need to acknowledge our crop losses, our fodder losses and of course that is followed by livestock.”
As hay and water are trucked into fire zones to keep surviving animals alive, the recovery process is likely to take years rather than months. Agriculture Victoria and the Rural Financial Counselling Service are also getting to the ground, offering both financial and mental health support, when the community is banding together to help film crews deal with fallout from one of their state’s worst-ever fire seasons.
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