Over the Fence, a drought resilience lens

• Birchip Cropping Group
• Drought Resilience Research

BCG is collating a series of short interviews with farmers and members of the farming industry, covering a broad range of topics relevant within the North West broadacre farming area in an effort to inspire the sharing of information and innovation ‘over the fence’. Each interview will be accompanied by professional photography to showcase the landscapes, lifestyles and on-farm proactiveness within the industry to challenge stereotypes set by the media in previous drought events and as a result, boost mental health. Past research indicates the severity of typical drought imagery on the mental health of rural communities. This project will be a published production of storytelling that will appeal to farmers, rural communities, industry and the broader community for insight into the broadacre farming region of North West Victoria. Touching on everything from financial decision making, spraying and sowing practices, drought preparedness, ag tech, forecasting, succession planning and the impacts of previous drought events, interviews will cover a broad range of topics, opinions, strategies and generations.