Battling against unseasonal and high rainfall conditions, one Papua New Guinea farmer explains how he's coping under the pressure
In this edition:
One Papua New Guinea farmer explains how unseasonal and heavy rainfall is impacting his livelihood on the land.
Also, we take a closer look at what is considered the Pacific version of a potato and how climate change is creating challenging conditions for farmers in Fiji.
And, one of the largest tsunami rocks discovered in the world in Tonga, sitting 40 metres above sea level.
The weather and how it affects you is already part of your life, so let's keep talking about being prepared.
*Pacific Prepared is produced by ABC International Development with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
ABC News
15 hours ago
- ABC News
Teens help keep their Riverina family farm running
Thirteen-year-old Declan Dennis spends hours staring at screens, but not the kind you'd expect for a teenager. In the cab of a tractor, Declan maps GPS routes and sows crops across hundreds of hectares of farmland. "I wouldn't say the average person could go jump in and get the job done, but once you get the hang of it, it's easy," Declan said. Declan and his older sister Brianna, 16, hope to be fifth-generation farmers on their family's property north of Wagga Wagga in New South Wales. The siblings share the workload. Declan handles the cropping, while Brianna takes care of the livestock. It's long hours in the tractor cab for Declan cutting laps of the paddock getting the crop sown. Declan has been sowing crops independently on his family farm since he was 11. He has taken charge of growing crops like lupins, barley, wheat and canola on the property. "It can take two to three hours just changing the depth of the seeder so the crop comes up right, as well as picking up sticks and moving stuff around the paddock and just keeping it all organised," Declan said. Brianna is just as involved, but her focus is the livestock, feeding sheep and cattle, and helping with buying and selling stock. "It's been pretty dry lately, so we've had to put out a lot more feed than usual, around 40 bales a week at one point," Brianna said. "But we've had some rain recently, so there's been more green coming up." This year, the Dennis family's property has recorded just 150 millimetres of rain, well short of their 525mm annual average. "Normally everything would be coming up by now, getting green around here." Their father Ryan Dennis said this autumn was one of the toughest starts they had encountered. Declan doesn't let the weather worry him too much, he just gets on with the job. By working on the family farm Declan is learning all about risk, resilience and reward, especially in a dry year. Both parents Ryan and Claire oversee the logistics for the teens in the paddock, their social schedule, sporting commitments and schooling. "I can't pinch them for this job [farming] and then have them miss out on their own interests and school work," Mr Dennis said. Mr Dennis is proud of his children's work ethic and believes they are as a capable as a seasoned farmer. "There's a bit of everything going on at the moment, it's all hands on deck." With the average Australian farmer now aged 58, the next generation of young ag leaders is vital for the industry's future. Programs like the National Farmers' Federation's AgCAREERSTART aim to bridge the gap, giving 18 to 25-year-olds a year-long paid farm placement, with more than 80 per cent staying in agriculture. While Declan and Brianna are a few years off applying, they already have their sights on a career in agriculture. Brianna is keen to continue working with livestock, after some travel. "I would like to work on cattle stations up north, and come back and hopefully get my stock and station agent licence and see where I go from there," she said. Their father is keen to see another generation run the Ponderosa as he likes to call the family farm. "We're not pushing the kids to stay here, but clearly they're both very keen on it," Mr Dennis said. Watch ABC TV's Landline at 12:30pm AEST on Sunday or stream anytime on ABC iview.
ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
Major winter storm to bring gales, rain and snow to southern Australia
A series of three cold fronts will spread an intense burst of wintry weather across southern states during the next five days. The fronts are predicted by modelling to become more powerful than typical early winter systems, and will generate damaging wind gusts, heavy showers, isolated thunderstorms and pockets of small hail. While wind speeds have the potential to exceed warning thresholds, farmers will rejoice with a solid soaking likely from the Western Australian west coast to north-east Victoria. The alpine region will also welcome another dump of snow, which will make 2025 one of the best starts to a ski season this century. The ongoing frontal activity, which was noticeably absent last winter, has laid the platform for the first wetter-than-average month along the majority of Australia's southern coastline since July 2024. The first front in the series already brought showers to the WA west coast on Friday, including over 30 millimetres in Busselton by sunset. Widespread showers will continue across WA today near and behind the front, with up to 20mm likely near the south-west and lower west coasts, and possibly up to 10mm over the wheat belt. As the first front weakens in the Bight on Sunday, a trailing second front will maintain showers along WA's south coast. Front number two will then rapidly cross the South Australian coast on Monday, before sweeping across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales on Tuesday, bringing widespread showers and the odd storm or two with small hail. Totals by late Tuesday should exceed 20mm in coastal areas exposed to a westerly airstream, including around Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Warrnambool. The final front will then follow on Wednesday across south-east states and generate further heavy showers, storms and small hail. After several days of showery weather, this series of fronts will deliver an average of 20 to 40mm of rain to southern agricultural SA, along with much of southern and mountain Victoria, and the southern slopes and ranges of NSW. For Adelaide, another 32mm will make this June the city's wettest month in two years. Unfortunately, though, repeating the trend from previous fronts, only light rain will reach north-west Victoria, the western Riverina and the SA Murraylands and Riverland. The continued absence of genuine drought relief across areas further inland is the result of fronts not linking with plumes of tropical moisture — which from their origin favour rain in areas further north. Daytime temperatures will climb as much as 5 degrees Celsius above average across south-east states during the coming days, thanks to a mild northerly airstream — a common pattern preceding vigorous fronts. The passage of the fronts will then drop temperatures back to average for winter, with the colder air reaching Adelaide on Monday, Melbourne, Hobart and Canberra on Tuesday, and Sydney by Wednesday. Initially, the unseasonable warm northerlies will lead to rain across the Alps on Monday, but temperatures will quickly fall below freezing on Tuesday. Once the cold air arrives, near continuous snowfall should last around 36 hours, accumulating to around 50 centimetres at major resorts, although Mt Buller may receive slightly less. An additional dump of heavy snow arriving soon after the opening weekend storm will make 2025 one of the best starts to ski season this century. The snow depth by Thursday should challenge previous high late June depths measured in 2000, 2004, 2012 and 2022. In terms of non-alpine snow, Tasmania will be the main beneficiary with snowfalls possible to very low levels on Wednesday below an elevation of 500 metres. A strong westerly airstream is a characteristic attribute of most major winter cold fronts, and this series won't disappoint, bringing strong to gale-force winds over a wide swathe of southern Australia. A warning for damaging gusts has already been issued for southern WA this weekend, and multiple warnings should follow for south-east states into the new week. Winds will strengthen across south-east states through Sunday and Monday ahead of the fronts, which could whip another dust storm across the parched regions of inland SA. For most of SA and Victoria, though, the strongest winds will arrive on Tuesday when maximum speeds reach around 90 kilometres per hour although exposed parts of the coast and ranges could see gusts above 100kph. The fierce winds will also lash NSW on Tuesday, and peak across eastern NSW on Wednesday, again with gusts possibly near 100kph. Winds at this strength often bring down tree branches and can become destructive in heavier showers and storms, a scenario which may lead to isolated power outages. Current modelling indicates calmer weather will return to southern Australia by Thursday.
ABC News
4 days ago
- ABC News
Samoan village has constructed large levy walls but it's still not enough when heavy rain hits
In this edition: A stunning river that carves a huge path through a Samoan village acts as a water source for the community but with steep mountains close by, heavy rain transforms the river into a torrent that threatens lives. And a Samoan family who relocated to avoid being flooded in a low-lying area is now living with the threat of heavy rainfall in a new location which previously wasn't impacted. The weather and how it affects you is already part of your life, so let's keep talking about being prepared. *Pacific Prepared is produced by ABC International Development with funding from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
