IT is bad enough being chased by the black dog.
Which is why this story is about a farmer who has asked for anonymity.
He is a typical Wheatbelt farmer handling peak debt as best he can on a very skinny budget, with a declining equity position on his 2666 hectare property.
He is not a whinger (my impression is the dead opposite) but he is happy to tell it as it is.
He has seen land values drop by almost $200 a hectare over the last three years.
Unfortunately he has been hit with depression, which has crept up on him over the last decade and particularly after the 2010 drought.
"We've had one good year in the last 10 and we've been hit hard," he said.
"You go to bed at night and you play the figures in your head and you don't know you're stressing yourself out.
"The simple fact is my workload has gone up because I can't afford farm labour.
"The only casual I get is at seeding, I don't have a chaser bin at harvest.
"My best mate got the black dog and I never would have thought it could happen to him.
"But it becomes a pressure where every day you're thinking about where your next dollar is coming from.
"You try to shut out the thoughts but it is hard to do.
"I did the budget in February based on $235 a tonne for my wheat.
"It was a very tight budget and even though wheat is now around $320 a tonne, it will be kept tight.
"I know from past experience that as soon as the price of wheat goes up, costs go up with it.
"It's a fixed cycle and costs never come down, even when the dollar is high.
"And let us not forget $320 a tonne is not a high price. It should be double that figure.
"Over the last 40 years the price of wheat has not kept pace with the cost of production so there's the fundamental problem."
He says he is not being helped with financing.
"Last year the bank wouldn't give me money for urea until September when I needed it in July," he said.
"The financing arrangements were locked in and everything had to go over east to get approved.
"And to make matters worse I had to deal with three different bank managers in three months and I got slugged $4500 by the bank to have my land revalued.
"The problem is the bank makes you wait for so long before it lets you know whether or not you've got finance for the year, so you've got no hope of forward planning.
"A one-year budget can show a deficit which can be enough to get knocked back but I've done a five-year budget that shows profitability is achievable.
"It just takes time.
"You can view the stock market and see its ups and downs over the last 40 years and agriculture has done the same.
"The point is the stock market is still here and so am I.
"That's why I think banks should give us a longer period to repay loans and they should be made to charge a fixed interest.
"I know guys being hit with 19 per cent right now and that just adds another weight to the business."
He also called on government to look long term.
"If governments took the long term view, they would provide interest rate relief," he said.
"It's not rocket science to see governments would get their money back in spades by keeping farm businesses from going under.
"The ripple effect would see healthier farmers, healthier and stronger communities, more tax being paid and less medical costs.
"That's why I believe in multi-peril crop insurance and why the government should underwrite it, for all the reasons I've just given.
"But we feel like the forgotten people.
"You go to Perth and pay between $4 and $6 for a cup of coffee and watch people buying milk for a dollar a litre.
"The whole system is skewed against the farmer.
"What other business is expected to underpin the second biggest wealth-creating sector in Australia without a level playing field?
"There is light at the end of the tunnel if we're given a fair go.
"We're not whingeing we're just pointing out there are practical ways to help farmers do the best job they can."
It is a compelling statement from a farmer who has gone close to being wiped out, is currently battling depression, is trying to hold his family together and is looking outside the square for solutions.
On the latter, his positive approach also is actually helping his recovery from depression.
"A couple of years ago I ran out of fertiliser but I put in a crop and it grew," the farmer said.
"It started a thought process about the soil and it led me to drop compound fertilisers out of the system and adopt mineral fertilisers.
"I did it last year and it cut my fertiliser costs by between 20 and 30 per cent.
"I'm also cutting chemical costs by making the water the right pH and I'm saving up to 30pc on costs.
"Roundup works better in water at between 3.5pH and 4.5pH and the highest rate I've used is one litre a hectare instead of 1.5l/ha.
"With Treflan I'm down to 1.2L/ha (from 2L/ha) with water rates of 50 litres a hectare.
"It will take three to five years to get the soil back to a balanced state and I'm aiming for as much cost efficiency as I can.
"It's not necessarily the highest yield that makes the most money.
"The same goes with my stock where I am looking at better husbandry practices to achieve better price outcomes.
"And I believe I'm on the path to getting rid of the black dog."
