WHILE much of the focus has been on farmers, agricultural support businesses and their employees have been hit hard by the drought, both by direct reductions in sales and a loss of confidence across the sector.
The Tractor and Machinery Association, executive director, Gary Northover said sales figures reported the largest national monthly drop of machinery sales in recent memory, down 18 per cent for September.
“Regionally, the impact was felt right across the nation with the exception of South Australia,” he said.
While closures and redundancies have occurred, Rimfire, director Nigel Crawley said overall the market for skilled employees in the agricultural was still strong.
“We are still seeing a market for skilled candidates,” he said.
“While in the areas affected by the drought, such as NSW, companies aren’t looking to build their businesses with additional resources, they are looking to replace staff they lose, they aren’t putting roles on hold, we haven’t seen real evidence of that at this point.
“Businesses are still pretty bullish and committed to what they are doing long-term.”
Chesterfield Australia, Coonamble sales representative, Allison Davis said the Coonamble area was hard hit by the drought and companies had to make some tough decisions for the short term to ensure the long term security.
“For us, the decision was made, in the short term, parts and services would be managed out of Dubbo, with myself remaining in the Coonamble branch,” she said.
“We wanted to maintain a presence in the community and continue to service our existing customers, we are in it for the long haul, but its a tough environment.
“It isn’t just about purchasing new machinery, farmers are more likely to be doing their own repairs and services during a drought, if the wheels aren’t turning, the machinery just isn’t getting as many hours.”
Mr Crowley said maintaining skilled people in the regional workforce was important, strategies such as transferring staff to other branches are useful.
“One of the challenges for a lot of those machinery businesses and rural distribution, is ensuring they aren’t going to lose staff to other sectors,” he said.
“They have them there at the moment, they have them trained, the last thing they want to do is see them go, because they are so hard to replace.”
Unsurprisingly, grain traders have also experienced a solid financial down-turn, Walgett based Special One was recently placed in receivership, citing the drought as a major cause, and Central West NSW grain marketer Agrigrain have announced a series of redundancies.
In a letter to growers, Agrigrain said the measures were in direct response to drought.
“In response to the drought and poor seasons which have been felt by all within our farming communities, Agrigrain has been forced to make some difficult decisions for the season ahead,” it said.
“Due to minimal grain receivals expected this harvest; nine employees have been made redundant, working hours reduced and roles reviewed.”
Mr Crowley said while he expected harvest employment and seasonal staff to be back in drought affected areas, overall the corporate farms, skilled labour and management positions remained unchanged.
“This is the first drought where we have seen a lot more commentary, that yes it is a drought, but that is part of farming,” he said.
“it is an ongoing challenge we face and most farmers factor it in to their production cycles.
“There seems to be a lot more resilience across the industry to manage drought.
“Longterm there is a need for good talent in agriculture, I still believe it is a candidate short market.”
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