When you live on the land, droughts can be soul destroying. They creep up silently, and slowly but surely tighten like a vice. They get into your bones. There’s no knowing when the drought will break, or just how far you’ll be pushed.

I am a fourth generation sheep farmer from Crookwell, about an hour north of Canberra. When the autumn rains failed this year I reduced my stock by almost half. It looks as though the spring rains are going to be light, so I’m making plans to tighten my belt and sell more of my stock if I have to. We’re now down to our lowest sheep levels since the millennium drought ten years ago.

Charlie Prell is a fourth generation family farmer from Crookwell, NSW.

And I’m not alone. Despite the recent rainfall, most of the state is still in drought or affected by drought. Farmers in many areas are still experiencing worse conditions than where I live. The flow on effects are rippling through regional communities and into the broader economy. If the drought doesn’t break before Christmas there will be a social catastrophe across regional Australia.

Farmers live with the weather. We manage its vagaries and extremes. But this is different. Climate change means more frequent, longer and more intense droughts, and yet our politicians continue to bury their heads in the sand and refuse to accept the findings of climate scientists.