A jam packed agenda is in store next week as the state’s peak farming body holds their annual general conference in Sydney.
The NSW Farmers Association Annual General Conference is attended by at least two delegates from each branch of the organisation, and is one of the largest gatherings of farmers every year with around 300 people in attendance.
A packed schedule
Pre-conference events are scheduled for Monday, with AGMs for the Dairy, Eggs, and Horticulture sections as well as the Western Division council AGM. For most, the events will begin at the welcome drinks on Monday night.
Best not make it a big night however, because beginning with breakfast from 7am, there is a full 14 hour schedule through to 9pm for the first full day of the conference.
Tuesday’s agenda includes presentations from partners CropLife, GRDC, WaterNSW, Bayer, Inland Rail, Southern QLD and Northern NSW Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hub, and a keynote address from National Australia Bank. National Farmers Federation President David Jochinke and CEO Tony Mahar will also address the conference on Day 1, as will NSW Nationals Leader Dugald Saunders.
Day 1 policy sessions include Grains and Horticulture, Livestock, and Business, Economics and Trade, plus the first three of five sessions for the Environment policy area, groaning under the weight of no less than 47 motions to be considered, a great many of them relating to land use conflicts with renewable energy projects and mining.
The President, Vice President, and three board directors will also be elected before the day is out.
Breakfast on day 2 is also at a spritely 7am, with officialities beginning at 7.45am with the presentation of the organisation’s tertiary scholarship awards, and the conference formally reconvenes at 8am. Day 2 partner presentations include Primary Industries Education Foundation Australia (PIEFA), Port of Newcastle, and Telstra.
The NSW Government’s big guns will be in attendance, beginning with Premier Chris Minns at 9am, followed by NSW Minister for Agriculture and Minister for Western NSW Tara Moriarty at 10, Minister for Climate Change, Minister for Energy, Minister for the Environment and Minister for Heritage Penny Sharpe at midday, followed by the secretary of the recently restructured Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development.
Policy sessions on Day 2 include Environment parts 4 and 5, Livestock part 2, Rural Affairs and Organisation. Elections will also be held for P&A Councillors, Executive Councillors, and Executive Council Advisory Committees. The AGM is scheduled for 3.15pm, with the day wrapping up at 6pm.
A wide variety of issues to be discussed
A list of motions as diverse as the membership will be considered over the two days. There are a few definite themes of ongoing concern, most notably issues around transparency and being properly consulted.
Of the 104 motions on the agenda to be considered, 23 of them are related to renewable energy transition in some way. Some of them are solid and worthy of consideration, such as endorsing the 2023 Australian Energy Infrastructure Commissioner’s Review of Community Engagement Practices. Sadly, some motions appear to be fuelled by misinformation and political rhetoric.
The Moree Branch has put forward a number of sensible proposals for changes to allow for better flood mitigation works, including advocating for changes to allow ring embankments around dwellings, shed and silos, and to build roads up higher than the current maximum of 150mm.
Feral pig control will get some attention, with a proposal for a $20 per head bounty, as well as a number of government actions, being called for to control the invasive pest. Wild dogs are also causing concern at the southern end of the state.
There’s likely to be some heated debate around eID tags for sheep, with competing motions put forward to withdraw support or oppose the mandatory system. Reforming the system by changing from LF to UHF technology, and a sensible suggestion from the recently revived Hay Branch to have a recycling/rebate scheme for unused eID tags, a motion from the Sheepmeat Committee to advocate for hook tracking to provide farmers with data on individual animals, and improvements to the eNVD app, are also on the agenda.
There’s some motions that arguably shouldn’t be there. Given how full and demanding the agenda is, one wonders why motions not clearly related to agriculture, including motions on the location of nuclear power plants, council rates charged to renewable projects, continuation of cash as a payment method, reducing daylight savings, and the accuracy of government advertising, were not rejected. It is also curious why the wording in some motions was not cleaned up, as is standard practice for most member based organisations in compiling conference papers and has been practice in the past.
Other measures have clearly already been decided, such as support for virtual fencing which the organisation has already demonstrated, including in a public statements and government lobbying activity, although this may be just a formality. A few are redundant, calling for or opposing things that have already been implemented, such as opposing the introduction of CCTV cameras in abattoirs… which has been standard practice in well run facilities for years – Teys has had them in place since 2012 – and is required by many retailers.
And there’s a number of very sensible motions such that there should attract little debate at all, just a resounding ‘aye’. In this category would fall the Dubbo Branch’s motion to advocate for access to public sale yards to be maintained, and a motion from the Central Coast Branch that the organisation embrace electronic voting at the conference.
The NSW Farmers Association Annual General Conference is on 23 and 24 July 2024 at Rosehill Gardens Racecourse.
Top image: delegates at last year’s NSW Farmers Annual Conference (Facebook: NSW Farmers)
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