Editorial: More rain needed for farmers

Photo / iStock

"It's just got a really strange feel to it this season."

These were the words of Otane farmer Peter Tod when we interviewed him about weather conditions this winter for a story in today's paper.

He said conditions were the driest he had seen them at this time of year in his almost 40 years of farming.

His words sum it up quite nicely because the weather has been so temperamental that you never know what it is going to be like. In winters past we have known that it is going to (generally) be cold and rainy. Not so this winter, with periods of mildness followed by pretty cold weather.

And then there is the wind. It has been quite relentless at times.

But it is all people are talking about.

There is something about the weather that fascinates us and when there are changes or extreme events, it affects us.

None more so than our farmers and apparently the lack of winter rainfall in the region has some farmers worried.

We had some great rain at the end of June after a long dry period, but then those winds hit, taking any moisture away.

If you drive around the countryside, you can see farmers feeding out stock and the way things are, if rain does not come soon, spring could be quite tough for our rural folk. A long hot summer would only compound the problems.

So, even though most of us don't like rainy winters, let's hope for our rural economy that we get a little more rain in the next four weeks.