DROUGHT’S BITTER HARVEST - Family on the brink

Michael Harris, sister Jennifer Harris and daughter Tamar Weston are struggling to make ends meet on the family farm at Jamberoo. High feed costs could be the last straw that sends the farm over the brink into closure.

FURTHER proof of the droughts crippling hold on the area was received during the week with another long term farming family admitting it is on the brink of collapse.

Despite the death of his father Lindsay last September and the harrowing effect the drought is having on the farm, 27year-old Michael Harris was hopeful of being able to maintain the family business through the trough.

But hopes were dashed with the closure of Fielders Bakery at Unaderra as the vast majority of the farms feed had come from the factorys cheap stale bread.

With the exorbitant cost of grain and no end to the drought in sight, Mr Harris fears that the closing of the bakery might be the final chapter in the family farms 30-year history.

We had a days notice the factory was closing down due to restructuring. After everything we have gone through, yeah it did hit us pretty hard, he said.

It is very hard to find any grain at the moment and when you do it is about 12 times the cost of what we were paying for the bread.

Basically at the moment we are running as a day-by-day proposition. We have a little bit of hay left but once that is gone well who knows.

It really is heartbreaking. Dad didnt want us to shut down but if it is inevitable I mean what can you do. Forced to work 15 hours, seven days a week to survive, Mr Harris is also reliant on the support of his uncle, sister and mother to help makes ends meet.

It is hard on everyone they have their own jobs finish them and then come and help me for a few hours, he said.

It hasnt been easy for a fair while. When Dad became terminally ill with rheumatoid arthritis we tried not to let on to him how bad things were getting, but it was a very hard situation.

We were working full time out here and also trying to look after Dad the best we could, but he always came first. The farm came second if Dad ever needed anything.

Mr Harris, who left school at 14 to work on the family farm, is unsure what the future holds, saying unless the price of milk suddenly rises he is stuck between a rock and a hard place.

Water

I am currently using the water from the (Jamberoo) Action Park but that is a short term thing, he said.

If we have to pull the pin then I would start up contracting with the tractors but I mean unless it rains then there isnt much work there.

I was talking to a fella from Dairy Farmers the other day and he said that absolutely no one is a making money at the moment. It is pretty easy to see why.