WA farmers sounding alarm on costs

As SW forests, normally peaceful, pristine and most importantly, green. Now they’re fading. Large areas of dry and dying vegetation are being seen all around the southwest of WA. Their root systems are running out of water, the hot and dry summer to blame. Century old trees, barely alive as far as and coastal shrubland spanning more than 1000 kilometres, bake in the heat. It’s been incredibly dry across the Southwest Land Division for the last six or seven months. The whole Southwest Land Division over that period hasn’t been this dry since about the 1960s. Farmers also starting to sweat the cost of production rising by as much as 40% as feed for livestock becomes scarce. For livestock farmers at present, having very low water supplies, very high feed costs and very low prices is a very difficult situation to be in. It won’t be long before those costs are passed on to the consumer. Our supermarket spend set to rise even more by spring, that’s coming to hit us probably like a freight train. Within, you know, months if not earlier. We’ll have to wait a bit longer for relief. With little to no rain expected until mid-May. Some of those farmers have not seen it this dry in their lifetime. And they are seriously worried. Emma Griffiths 9 News.