Over the past 12 - 18 months the VFF has continued to lead the debate on many vital issues
with government and within the media:
The VFF is standing up to the Government's proposed Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme
so that farmers will not be left to foot a multi-million dollar carbon tax bill.
Lobbied the Victorian Government to ensure a long term commitment to Victorian food production,
the Future Farming Strategy, a $205 million programme including $103 million targeted at improving
farm productivity, $11 million for addressing climate change and $3 million for skills development.
Obtained a $180 million commitment on Victoria's Rail Freight Network including a complete
restoration of key gold and silver freight lines and a rehabilitation of selected bronze lines.
Lobbied for boosts to critical regional infrastructure, including $1.2 billion for better
regional arterials, $240 million in a boost to maintenance funding for regional roads and significant
funding for Auslink2 projects.
Lobbied the State and Federal Governments to continue drought support measures for Victorian
farmers by extending EC declarations and announcing a new $115 million package of State based drought support.
Worked to ensure that the State and Federal Governments gave the green light to the Port Phillip Bay
Channel Deepening project which will generate in excess of $2 billion for the Victorian economy over the
next thirty years.
Continued to lead the debate on the National Plan for Water Security to protect the rights of
Victorian irrigators.
Supported the applicants through legal proceedings in the Hahnheuser case to protect the $1.8
billion Live Export Trade, so that farmers can get on with the job without fear of environmental activists
damaging their businesses.
Successfully lobbied the Victorian Government to introduce a $400 rebate for horticulturalists
purchasing a Rollover Protection Structure (ROPS)
Worked with Agfarm to form the first Victorian grower-owned Grains Brokerage Alliance in
Australia's newly deregulated wheat market.
Signed off on two significant documents with the Minerals Council of Australia regarding exploration
and mining on Victorian private land to protect Victorian farmers in their dealings with the mining industry.
The VFF played a vital role in the lifting of the moratorium on GM canola and use of alternative weed
management techniques in canola crops.
The VFF has negotiated a special price for NLIS cattle tags for Victoria's cattle producers. At $1.65
each, this represents a savings of $2.15 from the price paid interstate and saves the local industry an
estimated $1.2 million yearly.
The VFF is taking the lead in lobbying the Government about the Fire Services Levy and Native Vegetation
Regulation in the upcoming Royal Commission into the Victorian bushfires.
Next year an Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be introduced in Australia. Research by the Australian
Farm Institute has shown that the introduction of an ETS will immediately reduce farm cash margins by 8 percent.
If agriculture is included in the scheme, farm cash margins could be slugged by as much as 100 percent.
The Federal Government has committed to making a decision on agriculture's inclusion in the scheme by 2013, with the
earliest possible inclusion of the sector flagged as 2015. The scheme has the potential to reduce the value of Australian
agricultural production by $2.4 billion per annum by 2020, and $10.9 billion per annum by 2030.
Any ETS will have significant impacts for the agricultural sector. Rising input costs, production system changes and production
level changes are some of the main ways an ETS will affect both the agricultural sector as a whole, and individual farming
operations.
Agriculture could be hit twice if included in the scheme, both directly - as farmers will face increased costs
through the need to purchase permits corresponding to their emissions, and indirectly through their use of energy
based inputs.
Research shows that if the sector is included, even under conservative modelling scenarios, by 2030 farmgate
prices will rise, but the net price that farmers receive after paying for permits will fall.
Farmers cannot afford to stand by and watch their livelihood become victim to emissions trading. By 2030 emission
permit costs are projected to account for 25 percent of farmgate price for wool, 22 percent for beef, 16.5 percent
for sheep meat, 10 percent for dairy, 5.5 percent for pork, 3.5 percent for poultry, and 1-2 percent for crops.
Farmers and farmers alone will bear the brunt of these costs.
By 2030 production is projected to fall from its business as usual level by 12 per cent for beef, 8 per cent for wool,
7 per cent for sheep meat, 4.5 per cent for other meat and about 1 per cent for other agricultural commodities.
Under such predictions, a small scale beef farmer would go from posting a farm cash margin of approximately $40,000 a year,
to returning a loss of $35,000. On the whole, by 2030 the gross value of production for the beef industry will fall
by $6.6 billion.
Australian farmers are renowned for having a thick skin and have proved resilient under the pressures of an ongoing
drought and a changing climate. However, farmers cannot continue to provide food and fibre for Australian and international
consumption and deal with the pressures of emissions trading.
The VFF needs your support to minimise the effects of the ETS on Victorian farmers.
