{"id":836159,"date":"2026-07-31T18:14:30","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:14:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836159\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T18:14:30","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T18:14:30","slug":"parts-of-southern-queensland-drought-declared-for-first-time-in-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/836159\/","title":{"rendered":"Parts of southern Queensland drought declared for first time in two years"},"content":{"rendered":"

Parts of Queensland have been drought-declared for the first time in two years as farmers face worsening conditions after months of below-average rain.<\/p>\n

The Balonne, Goondiwindi and Southern Downs local government areas, along with the southern part of Maranoa, have been declared drought-affected.<\/p>\n

The declaration follows at least 12 months of below-average rainfall and poor pasture growth.<\/p>\n

For cattle producers around Roma, the dry conditions are already putting pressure on farms, with feed supplies running low and farmers watching the skies for rain.<\/p>\n

At Mount Abundance, near Roma, cattle producers James and Nat Stinson said their property had received only about 120 millimetres of rain so far this year.<\/p>\n

“It’s pretty ordinary at the moment,” Mr Stinson said.<\/p>\n

“It’s starting to dig its fingernails in pretty tight in a few places.”\"cattle<\/p>\n

With grass low, the Stinsons are relying on supplementary feed. (ABC Rural: Brandon Long)<\/p>\n

The Crisafulli government has reinstated two drought-assistance loan schemes, offering eligible primary producers interest-free loans of up to $50,000 for emergency assistance and up to $250,000 to cover business carry-on expenses.<\/p>\n

The loans are designed to help producers manage the financial pressure of drought and keep businesses operating.<\/p>\n

Mr Stinson said the loans could help farmers facing a cash squeeze, but they should also wary of debt.<\/p>\n

“The last thing that we need to do in these times is probably take on more debt,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[But] it may suit some people who are possibly in a bit of a cash pinch and they’re requiring carry-on finance for either buying feed or just everyday operations, planting crops and whatnot at the end of it.<\/p>\n

“Horses for courses.”<\/p>\n

Mr Stinson said the drought declaration was at least recognition of the pressure facing producers.<\/p>\n

“At least it’s an acknowledgement from the government that things are pretty tight,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"two<\/p>\n

Nat and James Stinson have seen their property drier, but hope rain in the coming months will bring back the green grass. (ABC Rural: Brandon Long)<\/p>\n

On the Stinson family’s property, managing cattle is becoming increasingly difficult.<\/p>\n

The family has weaned calves early and is feeding them, while the breeding herd could need supplementary feed within weeks if pastures continue to dry out.<\/p>\n

“There’s a bit of dry feed but, geez, it’s starting to get short now,” he said.<\/p>\n

The family is considering planting another crop to ferment into stored silage feed and are moving cattle between paddocks and selling some animals to manage the feed available.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Tony Perrett made the drought declaration today. (ABC Rural: Brandon Long)<\/p>\n

Queensland Primary Industries Minister Tony Perrett said the government understood the challenges facing producers and was committed to supporting the agricultural sector through drought.<\/p>\n

“As a grazier myself, I have firsthand knowledge and experience of the hardships faced by producers and their families during these difficult times,” he said.<\/p>\n

For Mr Stinson, the immediate priority is simple: hold on and hope the rain comes.<\/p>\n

“Things can turn around really quickly but, at the moment, the ground’s very, very dry,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It’ll rain again soon and we’ve just got to be in a position to take advantage of the season when it does.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Parts of Queensland have been drought-declared for the first time in two years as farmers face worsening conditions…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":836160,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,4358,408073,18135,75,11412,128],"class_list":["post-836159","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-drought","tag-drought-declared","tag-dry","tag-environment","tag-loan","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836159","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=836159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836159\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836160"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}