A new drought report to the Federal Government has warned that women and children in farming families are "bearing a large part of the emotional burden of dryness".
The report, by a panel chaired by Queensland farm leader Peter Kenny, says, "The present dryness has had an impact on the functioning of rural families, through enforced long-term separation of family members, psychological impacts on toddlers and school-age children, an increased burden of responsibility on women and the divisive issue of succession planning in tightened economic circumstances."
The report, to be released today by Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, is the second of three, commissioned for a review of national drought policy.
The first, by the Bureau of Meteorology and the CSIRO, warns that farmers face even hotter weather ahead, with reduced soil moisture and more frequent droughts in the south-east and south-west.
The report states the social fabric of rural communities is being ripped apart by the drought with the traditional mainstay of small towns - the local sporting team - one of the casualties.
It reveals people are so depressed because of the hard conditions that they no longer have the will to join community events such as sports.
The numbers of people who still show up to sporting activities is now so low that some communities no longer have enough people to form teams.
"It was recalled that local sporting games were once the major point of social interaction with the community," the report, to be released today, found.
"The panel heard that people could no longer justify both the cost and the time away from the farm and that many people were withdrawing because of depression or because they could not afford the cost of socialising."
More than 1000 people showed up to 25 meetings held in drought affected towns to tell the report's authors about how the drought had affected their lives.
Children were increasingly picking up on the financial and emotional stresses caused by the drought with boys in particular leaving school early to earn an income to reduce the pressure on their parents, the report found.
"Children require a stable, nurturing environment to grow, develop and learn," the report said.
"Stressed families and households will, over time, negatively impact on children's ability to do this and to develop their own coping mechanisms for adult life."
Women are being either forced to work off the farm in order to earn extra income or to quit jobs in town to replace labourers on the farm who families can no longer afford to pay.
"[Women] feel the need to be emotionally strong to hold the family together and are often working as labourers beside their husbands in the place of hired workers," the report said.
"They frequently home-school children where distance or the closure of schools has made this necessary.
"They are taking off-farm employment to bring in additional income or to support their children's education if needed."
The report is released as almost 70pc of NSW remains in drought, although heavy rains in September eased the dry conditions in some areas of northern NSW and the Hunter.
The latest figures represent a drop in the total drought-declared area of NSW from 71 to 69 per cent in recent months.
This time last year over 78pc of NSW was in drought.
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