Biosecurity the top priority for new top job

Of course, biosecurity is our number one priority with foot and mouth disease detected in Bali. It's been headline-grabbing for a reason - an FMD outbreak would cause widespread devastation and an estimated loss of $80 billion. Lumpy skin disease, varroa mite, QX and Japanese encephalitis also stand to harm our billion-dollar agricultural industries.

NSW Farmers members voted to support, in principle, a national scheme for individual tagging in sheep. We believe the costs of traceability need to be shared along the supply chain - but we cannot afford to compromise our global reputation for producing high quality food and fibre, and we need to consider all options in the face of serious disease threats.

We have already secured record funding for biosecurity at state and federal levels, and as farmers we already pay levies for biosecurity, but the next step must be a sustainable funding model such as a container levy. Biosecurity investment cannot be made at the whim of government-of-the-day spending. The stakes are simply too high.

We have also seen significant progress in the competition space over the past few years, with an ACCC inquiry into fresh food supply chains a high point for our advocacy. We must now focus on seeing the ACCC's recommendations come to fruition to see fairer returns for our farmers.

As president of NSW Farmers, I would also like to maintain our work to develop and implement a long-term market access strategy. We have an important opportunity to grow exports through the Port of Newcastle, and freer access presents a massive opportunity for our booming grains sector.