The worst is still yet to come, at least, according to an agricultural consultant who works in the Dubbo region.
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Mark Gardner, a farm and land management consultant at Vanguard, has witnessed the effects of the drought on the Central West landscape and doesn't see much good news in the near future.
"I think it's probably another year on top of the terrible year last year, so I think for a lot of people they've just hung on, but this will be the year where it starts to really bring to a head some of the impacts of the climate we're experiencing," Mr Gardner said.
Mr Gardner welcomed the Daily Telegraph Bush Summit featuring the Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, but wanted more consideration devoted to the underlying causes of the drought.
"I think the Bush summit is a great idea, it's awesome for folks like the Prime Minister to come out, but it's important for him to listen to the quiet voices, not just the loud voices," Mr Gardner said.
"I think it's important that these summits try and understand some of the causes of what we're seeing."
"The problems that we're seeing are self-evident, but it's important that causes like the climate change are identified and we have a plan for that."
Mr Gardner also noted that many of the techniques to lessen the impact of the drought he'd like to see considered by those in charge are already being used successfully by farmers in the Central West.
"Farmers out here have been adapting their production techniques to a changing landscape for a long period of time, one of those concepts is regenerative agriculture, which takes into account not just the economics but also the social and ecological impacts of production," Mr Gardner said.
"It's been around for about twenty five years, so it's not new, but as we have these meetings it's important we start to look at the opportunities that are coming from the current climatic circumstances."
"We have to entertain these alternatives like regenerative agriculture and a low-carbon economy and we need to not see that as a negative, but to start to focus on a future that we want, rather than the past we have."
Mr Gardner is a proponent of regenerative agriculture, a practice wherein grazing and other methods are adapted to emphasise topsoil quantity and quality.
"Regenerative is farming with nature, it has a very low chemical output, and is a more ecologically friendly approach based on native pastures and more natural approaches."
The practice had fallen out of favour during the 80's and 90's, but has experienced a resurgence of interest as farmers look for answers to the changing climate.
"The enormity is difficult to grasp for some people," Mr Gardner said.
"The evidence is that we have a changing climate, and it's highly likely that burning fossil fuels for a long period of time has caused that."
"At the moment, we have different levels of government doing good things and different organisations doing good things, but they don't work well together."
"What we need to think about for our region is how we want the region to look for our children's children, what is the ecological foundation for that."
Mr Gardner expressed his hopes that after the summit, there would begin to be a 'unified approach' toward solutions.
"I would hope the outcome is not just talking about farming technique, but using it as a springboard to talk about what sort of future we need to create in terms of ecological, social and economic vision."
