Farmers are good at farming and not necessarily surfing the internet.
So when it comes to finding who can help during times of drought, it can be a very time consuming process.
When having to decide between taking care of your farm or spending time trying to track the right person in the right department who can hook you up with assistance, most farmers will choose the land.
To help simplify this process Gloucester Rotary Club organised to get a group of representatives from a range of different service providers together in one room.
The first Rotary Farmers Gathering was held at the Gloucester Golf Club on Tuesday, September 11 at 10am.
Members of the Forster Bowling Club made the journey over the hill bearing a van full of donations.
The club has been running a range of fundraising events to help farmers in drought with one being a call out to members for food donations during the month of August.
Club member, Karen Newcombe said the members wanted the food to go to local farmers and the decision was made to bring it to the Gloucester Rotary Club to help distribute.
The food was laid out on the tables for people to take what they needed as they left.
“The generosity is just amazing,” Gloucester Rotarian Peter Markey said.
This was just the first in what is hoped to be a regular get together to provide farmers with a link to support.
Speakers from Rural Aid, Local Land Services, One Door Mental Health, Rural Resilience Program, Department of Human Services, Bucketts Way Neighbourhood Group and the CWA were there.
All spoke about what their organisation offers farmers and how the services can be accessed.
Among the speakers was Gloucester CWA evening branch secretary, Donna Kemp who outlined about what the group can do locally to help.
“To us, a farmer is someone who makes money off the land,” Donna said.
“You don’t have to own a sheep station.
“Our cakes can help raise money for people in need.”
After the speakers were finished, the meeting was opened up for a question and answer session.
It was a chance for local farmers to ask questions without having to spend copious amounts of time searching for the answers in the internet.
Peter asked the group to let other farmers know about the meetings in order to get more people into the room who want for information about what help is available to them.
It was decided the next meeting would be on Tuesday, September 25 at the Gloucester Golf Club at 10am.
