Julie Deer
July 2025 - Drought Farming
Original
About the Image(s)
While the top part of eastern Australia has been having cyclones and heavy rain this year causing massive flooding, many parts of our country are experiencing drought. Recently we were passing through the mid north of South Australia and saw this poor farmer preparing his fields for seeding in the hope that the rain will come. I snapped this as we drove past.
12 comments posted
(Groups 2 & 56)
Hi Julie. I am sure the Cockies up north would say the land this year is as dry as a dead dingo's donger (An Australian coloquialism).
I admire their confidence by dry seed planting and then hoping for the annual rains to come. There is not a cloud in the sky to offer a glimmer of hope!
A great photo showing the plight of the man on the land with dust from the harrows behind the tractor and the tumble weeds blown up against the fence in your original photo.
Life on the land can be heart breaking!
Well done
Posted: 07/06/2025 04:39:44
I admire their confidence by dry seed planting and then hoping for the annual rains to come. There is not a cloud in the sky to offer a glimmer of hope!
A great photo showing the plight of the man on the land with dust from the harrows behind the tractor and the tumble weeds blown up against the fence in your original photo.
Life on the land can be heart breaking!
Well done
Posted: 07/06/2025 04:39:44
Thanks Martin, the rain still has not come to this area. There are convoys of trucks bringing hay to the area to feed the livestock. It is so sad. Posted: 07/17/2025 07:28:46
Hey Julie. This image is telling a very compelling story about things that are happening all over the world. (sorry I will get off my soapbox). It is a sad image and a desperate time for these farmers. I learned a lot from this image that I thought was just a guy plowing his field. I approached its totally different than normal. I did not sharpen things and add texture and add all the things to make a shot look pretty. I cropped a little tighter than you, but not much and I turned up the temperature to make it look... dustier? I did not try to enhance anything like the sky. The image speaks for itself. It is a strong piece of Photojournalism. You should see if there is a market for this image in a magazine or a newspaper, or online. Some images need to have a story with them. Nice job. Posted: 07/06/2025 23:16:20
Thanks Don, It is a scene being played out in much of the northern areas of South Australia by many farmers. There are some dry storms that come through and the wind takes away all of their topsoil to compound their problems. Posted: 07/17/2025 07:31:22
Hi Julie, this is an image I'm going to remember for a very long time. It's so sad, knowing the story behind it. I like how you've cropped out the foreground. If it's printed in a newspaper or somewhere, they might need to crop part of the left side, which would be okay - the message would still come across. Very well done and very powerful image. Posted: 07/10/2025 15:45:26
Thank you Janice, The southern parts of the state are now receiving a little bit of rain, but the drought continues for our farmers. Posted: 07/17/2025 07:32:22
Great capture and a drive by as well. I also like the original photo - it give me the plight, but also the the context. Well seen. I have a friend who lives in Queensland and they were rice farmers. Praying for rain. Posted: 07/17/2025 12:08:10
Thanks Catherine. The funny part is that a lot of Queensland has been under flood water for the past few months. This water has gradually made its way into the centre of the country via various rivers that are usually dry. My husband and I put our small aluminum boat in the water and traveled along one of these rivers for 140 miles (about 230 km) to Lake Eyre which is a very large dry salt lake in May of this year. We took just over 2 weeks to get to the Lake and back. Posted: 07/17/2025 12:18:44
Good capture. It must be awful farming under these drought conditions. As a PJ/"news" picture, you shouldn't erase the posts in the centre. Posted: 07/22/2025 15:59:18
Thank you for the reminder. When I processed the image i did not have PJ in mind. Posted: 07/27/2025 05:49:49
Julie, I like the way you have captured the plight of the farmers and how they must deal with the weather conditions. Nice post processing: you cropped in on the bottom and deleted the fence. I would not crop in on the right to give the tractor some room to move into.
The comments of the others catch the disaster the farmers are facing. Posted: 07/22/2025 20:14:26
The comments of the others catch the disaster the farmers are facing. Posted: 07/22/2025 20:14:26
Thanks Henry, there are 90 or so huge trucks bringing hay in a convoy from Western Australia to help feed the animals in the drought areas of South Australia. Posted: 07/27/2025 05:51:45