Community
6 August, 2025
Meeting concerning water security
A UPCOMING meeting held by farmers for farmers is aiming to address water security in the Heytesbury region.
As one of Australia’s most renowned dairy-producing areas, the Heytesbury region has been detrimentally impacted by prolonged drought conditions.
Considering the drought and the reduction in overall rainfall, United Dairy Farmers of Victoria (UDV) president Bernie Free said the goal of the meeting was to ascertain the need for a more reliable stock water supply for agriculture in the region.
“There’s been a lot of discussion about how there’s not enough stock water in the Heytesbury region and there’s been some farmers who have had to sell calves and young stock,” he said.
“There’s been talk about what can be done to fix the issue long-term.
“The next stage is having a business plan to prove a solution is viable.
“Before we start that we have to see if farmers really want this and see how much farmers are prepared to pay to achieve water security.”
Mr Free said farmers may have different ideas about what water security looks like for them, stressing the importance of the public meeting.
“We need to have a general discussion on what farmers see as their requirement for a solution,” he said.
“There’s no point coming up with a solution and people in the Heytesbury region saying it doesn’t work.
“We’re hoping to find a solution of what they think is necessary and how much they think they would be prepared to pay on a yearly basis to achieve that.”
The meeting is not only for farmers, as community members are welcome to come and be a part of the discussion.
“It’s not just a farmer issue,” Mr Free said.
“If we don’t have farmers in the district then we don’t have a community.
“If the farmers aren’t spending money in the community and if they’re not as productive as they could be then the community suffers.”
The meeting will be held at the Simpson Bowl’s Club (1 Fisher Street) on Wednesday, August 13 from 7-9pm.
Please RSVP your attendance to Mr Free by Friday, August 8 via email at freedomdairying@hotmail.com.au.
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