100+ Of 120 Dairy Farmers Along Upper Murray River (Australia) Already Gone Or Preparing To Leave

[hatrack]

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Murray Bridge—A mass exodus of dairy farmers is threatening small communities around the lower reaches of the River Murray in South Australia. In the past few years more than 80 per cent of the industry in Murray Bridge has collapsed, taking with it farm employment, property values and even entire families whose spending supported other local businesses.

Low milk prices and drought have left the dairy industry struggling Australia wide, but in the ailing Murray Bridge and Lower Lakes region, where salinity is threatening the water quality, dairy farming is almost untenable.
More than 100 of the 120 dairy properties between Mannum and Wellington have either ceased operating or have been sold in the past five years.

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"We've paid our taxes, we employ workmen and we do the right thing by the environment, as far as Im concerned, and to have everything taken away from us is really hard. You take away the price of my milk, you take away the water and you do this to the environment, birds and insects - how can I survive?"

Situated right beside the River Murray, Ms Rothe said she had no choice but to sell her stock, because animals were breaking their legs in the large cracks which had formed as the ground continued to dry. "Because the depth of the river here has dropped almost a meter and a half, it has also affected our ground water."

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http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/21725/

[vinylsolution]

1. First Australia....

... next, US. And this is just the beginning.

We can step back from the abyss if we choose to, but I suspect corporate power will prevent that ever happening.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

2. THANKS FOR TRYING TO HIJACK MY VIDEO

[Nihil]

4. ?

Was going to kick the thread anyway but, out of interest,
what were you meaning here?
:shrug:

[BrklynLiberal]

3. Guess Nevil Shute miscalculated when he wrote "On the Beach"

Australia may be the first to succumb, rather than the last.