Lauren and Greg Newell's farm business on the New South Wales Mid North Coast has survived drought, bushfires, and floods, but the latest wave of COVID-19 has forced them to close their gate.
Key points:
- The Sydney lockdown means Lauren and Greg Newell can't sell their product at farmers' markets
- They rely heavily on Sydneysiders to fill their farmstay, which has no bookings until September
- The pair are still recovering from the March floods
The pair run two businesses at their property in Wingham — a beef and pork operation, and a farmstay.
The worsening COVID situation across the east coast and the extended Greater Sydney lockdown has affected both their businesses.
"We sell our meat direct down in Sydney and we go down each week to the farmers' market," Lauren Newell said.
The pair sell their products at popular Sydney markets, including Carriageworks Farmers Market and the Liverpool Growers and Foodies Market, but they have chosen to stay away from the city.
"We can actually go there because it is considered an essential service but being from a regional area the last thing we want to do is go down to Sydney and bring COVID back into our region," Ms Newell said.
No Sydneysiders booking the farmstay
Ms Newell said when farmers' market were affected, normally they could rely on their farmstay to generate an income.
But with the majority of their clientele base locked down in Sydney and residents in regional New South Wales less inclined to travel, bookings have come to halt.
"Whilst we had been quite busy [before the lockdown] with people not being able to go overseas, I now have no bookings going forward."
The couple's next booking isn't until the school holiday break in September.
"This time of year is normally quieter ... but we would still get people on the weekends," Ms Newell said.
Still reeling from record floods
The pair is still dealing with ongoing issues from the once-in-a-century flooding event that devastated the Mid North Coast, especially the township of Wingham.
"We lost about 5 kilometres of fencing in the floods," she said.
The pair have managed to get the perimeter fence back up, but require a lot of internal fencing to cell graze [a form of rotational grazing] on their farm.
"We can't contain cattle in specific paddocks," Ms Newell said.
"And we've had cattle having calves on the sides of the creeks where the water is and Greg has had to go into the backwater to pull these calves out."
Mr Newell has developed leptospirosis from dealing with floodwaters that remain on the property to this day.
The disease is spread from animals to humans, caused by infection with the bacteria Leptospir and most commonly transferred through contaminated soil or water.
"So between COVID and his illness, we have made a decision to take a couple of months off and see what happens after that."