Much of Australia’s southeast is struggling with drought.
But the drought conditions in the Australian state of New South Wales this year have been the driest and most widespread since 1965.
BBC News reports that New South Wales produces about twenty-five percent of Australia’s agricultural output.
But it’s not enough for many farmers.
The state government on Wednesday also lifted the number of kangaroos that farmers are allowed to shoot and reduced bureaucratic red tape facing land holders applying for permission to shoot.
But Ray Borda, president of the Kangaroo Industries Association of Australia, which represents commercial shooters who hunt kangaroos for meat and leather, raised animal welfare concerns about the regulation changes.
The government would have been better off subsidizing professional shooters to reduce kangaroo numbers more humanely, he said.
"Despite this large natural variability, underlying longer-term trends are evident in some regions, and these are likely to be climate change related."
The department says the recent drop in rainfall across southern Australia is associated with a trend in the region toward high atmospheric pressure — a trend linked to shifting weather patterns.
"A recent attribution study shows extremely high pressures as seen across southeast Australia in August 2014 are more likely to occur in the future due to climate change," it says.