In a necessarily austere state budget, Tasmanian farmers welcome continued commitments to the flagship irrigation infrastructure program and funding towards the forest settlement process, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association said today.

In a guarded response, TFGA chief executive Jan Davis said that while the $420 million network of irrigation schemes remained on track under the Budget, the Government appeared yet to fully embrace the role of agriculture in the troubled waters ahead for the Tasmanian economy.

“Agriculture and mining will drive the Tasmanian economy in the years ahead,” Ms Davis said. “It is imperative that these vital public investments for farming are supported.”

“Central to this has to be the Wealth from Water program, which runs in tandem with the $420 million irrigation development program. It provides landowners and potential investors with comprehensive information about soil types, microclimates and crop suitability. We welcome the extension of the Wealth from Water program for a further year. We are however disappointed to see some other important programs dropped – including the Innovative Farming Systems Program and the Agrifood Skills Pipeline. We will work with government to see how best these issues can be best addressed.

Ms Davis said she was reserving judgment on the levels of continued funding in the Budget to biosecurity, forestry and to the browsing animal management program that explores alternatives to 1080.

“I want to see where the money is actually going to be spent,” she said.

Apart from threatened school closures in 16 rural areas, the other “hit” in the budget for farmers was the Government’s decision to offload the annual funding for the Poppy Advisory and Control Board, currently $650,000, to industry from 2012/13.

“The TFGA is not philosophically opposed to industry taking over responsibility for funding the board’s activities,” she said. “However, there should be no taxation without representation. If poppy growers are to pay to run the board, we must have control over its costs and its priorities; and we must have input into the level of legislation and red tape that has to be funded.”

The TFGA says investment in agriculture is among the most sensible decisions the Government can make. As an example, the Government’s share of the $420 million irrigation infrastructure program is just $80 million but it leads to increased farm output conservatively estimated at $3 billion – and overall strengthening of the state’s fragile economy.

“A lot of work is going into the development of an overall economic development plan for the state; yet there has been no consultation with us about the role of agriculture in terms of the overall plan or the big picture we are all expected to embrace for this state. This is a good point in time for us to take stock of where the industry is at, and develop a strategic vision for the future development of the sector in Tasmania,” she said.

“If I could summarise all of that, it would be that we need to carefully look at the details of this budget – and also look to ways to deliver increased growth for agriculture in Tasmania in the future.
Jan Davis http://www.tfga.com.au/