DISMANTLING policy is not enough for farmers, says ANDREW BROAD

Last week's opening address at the ABARE Conference by Federal Minister for Agriculture Tony Burke contained a list of policy directions and outcomes that he claimed to be beneficial to Australian farmers.

Minister Burke stated there is often a conflict between populist policy and what is "right". The question that could be asked is: "who determines what is right?"

Good policy is about building capacity and resilience. However, on a number of issues Minister Burke dismantled without first putting in place sufficient steps to build the capacity to adjust. Making cuts is easy; developing workable policy alternatives and taking a community on a journey to change is more difficult and a true test of leadership.

In holding up the dismantling of the single desk wheat marketing as his achievement, the Minister failed to acknowledge that he placed many growers in a situation of struggling to understand the complexities of international grain markets. Of the $1.15 million fund that was established to provide information sessions to growers, only $75,000 was spent in Victoria. This has been inadequate.

While in the long term, farmers will adapt, more should have been done to build the capacity in the farm community to cope with the changed market conditions. Just because farmers can adapt, it does not make the policy right.

Another example has been the dismantling of the funding arrangements that supported Landcare to implement Caring for Our Country. Landcare groups have achieved significant amounts of environmental good over the years under the many and varied funding arrangements. The change to the new funding model has been difficult and has left many of these volunteer groups struggling to continue their work at the levels of previous years. Assisting in the transition to change is as important a step as the change itself and a process to adequately deal with the changed circumstances would have made the transition easier.

In his ABARE address, Minister Burke called drought reform the "holy grail".

The farm sector discussed with the previous and current governments the need to reform drought support to ensure the best outcomes for farmers, their communities and the nation.

To his credit, the Minister has maintained that no one on Exceptional Circumstances support would be cut off while they remain in the current drought.

With northern Victoria remaining in EC, this has been an important commitment. However, as large parts of the state are now coming out of an EC declaration and the Minister has stated that the next drought response would not include an interest rate subsidy, there is a need for a commitment on what a new drought policy will contain.

The VFF and the NFF have argued that it is not necessarily about responding to drought and a preferable approach is building the capacity for the farm sector and rural communities to manage climate risk.

The Minister is expected to announce the new drought framework very soon. The test for the farm community will be to see if it is simply a dismantling of the current EC system or the introduction of program that builds capacity and resilience and offers real support for farmers and rural communities.

  • Andrew Broad is VFF president.