ELECTION priorities for farmers can change depending on what part of the State you are in, and NSW Farmers wants all the issues to garner the attention of competing politicians before the March 28 poll.
"We are in the middle of holding a series of election events around the State and so far it has been clear to me there are many issues concerning our farmers and our rural communities," said NSW Farmers president Fiona Simson.
While hearing concerns ranging from protection of prime agricultural land from farming through to loss of extension services, NSW Farmers had also put together a list of six policy areas it wanted all sides of politics to concentrate on for rural NSW.
"In Tamworth, people were very concerned about Shenhua mining on the Liverpool Plains and they want that stopped; they are also worried about economical access to water resources as well as good health and education services," Mrs Simson said.
The Shenhua mine concerns would fall under the policy area of protecting land and water.
The NSW Farmers' election website, Stand Up for Farmers, states productive agricultural land and water resources in NSW are finite and must be conserved and managed for the longer term, because these resources are uniquely suitable for and capable of sustaining agricultural production for the State, nation and globe.
"In Griffith, people are concerned about access to water too and how their community's economic viability is at risk because of this issue," she said.
"They were also concerned about lack of investment in local infrastructure and attracting young people to live in the regions."
The concerns about infrastructure and attracting young people back to regional NSW would fall under the policy areas of creating healthy rural communities and building better country rail and roads.
The Stand Up for Farmers site says the areas are important because a thriving agriculture sector means healthy rural communities, with agriculture in NSW sustaining more than 44,000 farming families and 120,000 people in jobs each year.
For infrastructure, future profitability for farmers relies heavily upon an efficient road and rail system.
Investment in regional transport infrastructure is critical to bringing down transport costs and improving farmers' returns.
"At Orange the issues were similar but also included electricity prices and extension services for agriculture," Mrs Simson said.
Other policy areas proposed by NSW Farmers include investment in farm innovation, getting fairer farmgate returns and action on drought.
Farmgate returns could be made fairer by whichever government is in charge after the election looking at ways to minimise the cost of State government duties and taxes plus infrastructure and transport costs.
Department of Primary Industries (DPI) projects that contribute to farm productivity needed to be supported by the government of the day, rather than being cut back.
For drought action, NSW Farmers believed the next government should match the Queensland government's in-drought support measures with a $30,000 subsidy available for water infrastructure or transport rebate per financial year.
Other appropriate measures should include maps of drought-impacted areas to be published on the DPI website to assist the decision-making of producers as well as agencies with funding to spend in those areas.
State and federal governments should consult with key stakeholders including the banks, community, landholders and the federal government to devise in-drought support and drought preparedness measures that are appropriate.
"We will support any actions taken by political parties which help to resolve these issues for our members and our communities," Mrs Simson said.
Roderick Makim
Senior journalist for The Land.
Senior journalist for The Land.
