And a lack of integration between State and Federal departments is resulting in the mental health needs of drought-affected farmers' falling through gaps in the Government's service delivery system, according to the findings of an official review of drought policy.

Mr Rudd today toured the 6000-hectare property, Wyuna, of AgForce vice-president Ian Burnett, whose son Craig and wife Larissa together run cattle, and grow both irrigated and dryland crops.

There he pledged to stand by rural communities, saying he remained optimistic about the future of Australian agriculture.

"The Government's attitude to Australia's future economic development has a big place in it for rural Australia, for rural industries and for agriculture," Mr Rudd said.

"We believe in investing in the industries of the future and we believe agriculture is an industry of the future."

He was accompanied by Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, and out-going AgForce president Peter Kenny, who has chaired the Federal Government's National Review of Drought Policy panel.

The panel's findings will be released next month, but Mr Kenny said today that the existing arrangements were focussed too strongly on keeping farm businesses going, and not enough on the people of the bush.

Mr Kenny said there was too much overlap between the delivery of State and Federal drought assistance.

This lack of integration was resulting in farmers not receiving services such as mental health assistance.

He said the Government's new policy needed to focus more on drought preparedness, and that agricultural industry needed to accept "dryness as a permanent condition" due to climate change, rather than the continuation of sporadic drought periods as in the past.

However, Mr Burke reassured farmers that the Federal Government's Exceptional Circumstances assistance program would not be "pulled from underneath them", and guaranteed that any farmer currently receiving EC would continue to do so until the drought breaks.