Farmers are becoming creative in an effort to earn an income, after bushfires destroyed their crops that will take years to regrow.
For some, it's a matter of using their pre-farmer skills and for others, thinking about the tourist potential of their properties
Starting from scratch
Tim Wimborne lost his entire native mountain pepper orchard on his property near Braidwood in New South Wales in January.
"We lost the orchard, we lost the rest of our mature trees and we've ended up with pretty much nothing in the way of production, so we are starting from scratch."
Just a few months after losing his farm, Mr Wimborne had to make huge decisions on his future.
"We have no revenue from the pepper anyway for the next four or even more years, so I have to do something. The decision was really made for us."
A chef by trade, Mr Wimborne has turned to selling hand-making pasta, allowing him to slowly reinvest in the farm.
Restoring a unique mountain pepper industry
Tim Wimborne got into farming native pepper almost by accident.
An ecologist friend spotted the pepper plants known as Tasmania Lanceolata growing naturally in his forest, and soon his passion was born.
"It's not a peppercorn, it's actually a berry. It's fruity, it citrusy. It's a lot hotter than a regular black pepper as well."
The farm had just sold its first product into Europe when the fire's hit.
Mr Wimborne said following the drought and fires, he would grow his plants differently.
"We are going to replant, and we do have a new plan that we'll be putting in place.
"But it's different, we're trying to mitigate that risk because we know the summers may be hotter and drier and the fire danger may increase."
'Money going out, nothing coming in'
Gerard McLaughlin lost his award-winning Waratah and Protea farm to the fires that swept through Conjola on the NSW South Coast.
He said the damage left in the wake of the inferno would take the rest of the year to clean-up.
"It's the emotional investment farmers have on their land. We really care about this place. It's heartbreaking to see the damage of the fire and the first month we were in shock.
"Every day I would come to the farm and not know where to begin."
Mr McLaughlin and his wife will open a little cottage on the property to rent out to tourists.
But he said it would do little to cover their living costs, let alone drum up enough money to rebuild the farm.
The fire destroyed hundreds of thousands of dollars of plants, equipment and sheds and will take years to rebuild.
"At our stage, and for a lot of farmers too who may be a little older, the struggle is knowing how much time you have got and what do you actually put that investment into."
Some of the Protea plants have been pruned back and will likely reshoot, but the rest will completely need to be replanted.
Mr Laughlin said he received a primary producers grant from the New South Wales Government.
But would like to see some real investment from the Federal Government into farmers following the fires.
