Nearly 50 farmers met in Simpson on Wednesday, August 13 to discuss ways to secure a reliable stock water supply.
Various ideas were floated at the meeting and will be the subject of further investigations.
The United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV), Food and Fibre Great South Coast, Victorian Farmers Federation and Corangamite Shire Council hosted the meeting.
UDV president Bernie Free said close to 50 people attended, reflecting the level of concern within the local farming community.
“We got a diverse range of views and ideas and the next step is to collate them,” Mr Free said.
“They all agreed that water is an issue — the question is what is it going to cost to fix the problem.”
The meeting was called after the region suffered through another drought this year, forcing some dairy farmers to have to buy in water for stock.
But Mr Free said it wasn’t a new issue for the region which has experienced prolonged droughts in 1967-68, 1982-83, 1994-95, 2006, 2012-15, 2016 and 2023-25, along with an overall reduction in rainfall.
“People agree that something needs to be done and it has given us the impetus to continue,” he said.
“Farmers acknowledged that every time there is a dry autumn and they get into a drought situation they struggle for water.
“If this isn’t a good spring for run-off, they’re going to be in trouble again. They prefer to be self-sufficient and not spend the money, but is that possible?”
Suggestions ranged from a stop-gap solution of more standpipes through to a fully integrated system that connects to the Wannon Water system.
The UDV will now collate the information and further consult the farmers who attended.
“We need to go away and look at what everybody said and do a pre-feasibility study on all the suggestions to get a rough idea of what they would cost,” Mr Free said.
“Cost is always the problem but we want to make the total system more resilient.
“There’s a fair bit of concern and farmers see it as a critical issue.
“We don’t necessarily have the answers at this stage but it would be good to give them some water security so they can move forward without having this over their heads.”
7°C