On the ground: Premier Steven Marshall meets Tanja Morgan and David Evans at Karoonda on Wednesday.
Photo: Peri Strathearn.
Drought is an urgent issue in the Mallee, but it was not the only one on the minds of the farmers who met Premier Steven Marshall at Karoonda this morning.
Fifty or more attended a meeting at the Magpies’ football clubrooms, part of a regional tour of drought-affected districts by the Premier and MPs Tim Whetstone and Adrian Pederick.
One livestock producer said he had had less than four inches of rainfall in 12 months, and had not reaped a single bale of hay in two years.
"I call myself a producer but I’m more of an undertaker," he said.
"I’ve found three (sheep) yesterday and one already today."
He proposed an emergency supply of feed pellets, produced from vine prunings, substandard fruit or downgraded grain, which could be kept in storage and deployed whenever drought struck somewhere around Australia.
Mr Whetstone advised that help was already available from the likes of Buy a Bale, Rural Aid, Family and Business Support and Rural Business Support.
Mr Marshall predicted water prices would fall by 2020 under SA Water’s new board, and following an inquiry into the previous government’s over-valuation of the utility.