00:00On South Australia's Fleurieu Peninsula, green grass and mud signal winter's arrival.
00:09Good girl, how'd you go?
00:11But it's also deceptive.
00:13On the surface, it looks like it's nice and green and things look good,
00:17but if you really go out there, the paddocks, some paddocks are quite bare.
00:23Myponga is one of the wettest parts of South Australia,
00:25and still, farmer Chris Roundtree is having to purchase large amounts of feed.
00:31Between that May period and now,
00:35it's about nine semi-trailer loads of feed that we've had to purchase that we normally wouldn't.
00:40It's what's known as a green drought.
00:42While the rain has come, it's now too cold for the grass to grow.
00:46The prolonged dry before it has also left plants stressed or dead,
00:50and the soil thirsty.
00:52Droughts are really difficult things to look at,
00:55and sometimes they can even trick us into believing that they're over when they're not.
01:00Farm consultant Bec Burgess acknowledges for other parts of the state,
01:03it's been even more challenging.
01:05So even though it's green here and drought is still here,
01:09only a couple of hours north of us,
01:10and it's still the dry, dusty plains as such that people know drought to be.
01:15The withered eucalyptus trees across the region
01:18reveal a more true depiction of the impact the last two years have had,
01:22with ecologists worried many are too far gone.
01:24But the rains have brought life back for at least some.
01:27That's alive.
01:29That's nowhere near dead.
01:31So I'm very thankful that my 200-year-old, 300-year-old tree is going to survive.
01:37Climate scientists say a reduction in rainfall during the critical growing months
01:42is one of the hallmarks of climate change for southern Australia.
01:45What's really needed this year is for the rain to continue all the way into spring,
01:53as the outlook suggests.
01:55In the meantime, drought-weary farmers say buying Australian produce
01:59and further government support will help.
02:02Time Logan, ABC News.
02:04There you go.
02:05The rain to continue all the way to pass the water.
02:07Let's see.
02:09Okay.
02:10So let's continue to measure the water.
02:13The rain to be on the high ground.
02:15Coastal and nightly,
02:16the rain to the rain.
02:17We'll have to go on the front,
02:19and turn it to you in.
02:21Let's see.
02:23Let's see.
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