The rain, we mean.

At a news conference last week The Mercury decided to try to pin down the two sides of state politics and work out exactly what they're promising to help ease the burden on drought stricken farmers.

Not just here - the hardships of our local farmers have been well documented - but right across the state. We wanted to find out what promises have been budgeted for and are set in stone, and what promises are ringing a little hollow. It is an election after all, where promises tend to be thrown about willy nilly.

Our reporter Belinda-Jane Davis, a farm girl herself, took up the challenge.

And wouldn't you know it, the week we are ready to print, it rains all weekend. After months of virtually no rain and baking temperatures ... what are the odds?

It's fair to say her piece in Monday's Mercury  - Drought funds run dry - set the proverbial cat amongst the pigeons.

Particularly for Labor, which is hardly surprising. 

"Both sides of politics agree it's crunch time for the NSW food bowl but the Labor Party, despite its rhetoric, has not announced any drought relief funds for farmers if it wins the March 23 election," she wrote.

By Monday afternoon her phone was running hot. She had been contacted by opposition spokesman for primary industries Mick Veitch who was heavily quoted throughout the article. He was unimpressed with the headline.

Cessnock MP Clayton Barr added the government wasn't forthcoming with information. 

"Despite what the Department of Premier and Cabinet spokesperson told you, let me assure you that the government does not happily and wilfully give out answers, details and success/fail data. The opposite is true - I could show you hundreds of examples," he said.

Not bad for a regional paper. By the next day Labor's rhetoric had been backed up by some commitments, which the Liberals believe is largely a copy of their own.

We're relaxed about which side should win government, but readily champion the cause for our farmers.

These are the guys who put food on our plates and they still need help.

To the big shots in Sydney from both parties, it's hard to think of any cause more just or important.