TasFarmers Matters - Our farmers backing the state

There's a future in agriculture, for those willing to look at the opportunity and assess the risks.

Right now, farmers are still making investments into the future, we’re still buying tractors, equipment and still buying properties in the face of strong headwinds.

Tasmanian farmers continue to make these decisions because they see a future in what they do.

That deserves attention, particularly when so much of the conversation around agriculture is about the pressures of our farm businesses.

There is plenty to talk about.

Input costs, uncertain farmgate returns, trade conditions and access to labour all weigh on farm businesses.

For those dealing with dry conditions on the East Coast and in the Southern Midlands, the immediate decisions are harder again.

These pressures affect how much farmers can invest, when they can invest and what they can reasonably take on.

Rabobank’s September Rural Confidence Survey found 27 per cent of Tasmanian farmers surveyed planned to increase investment in their businesses over the coming year, up from 17 per cent the previous quarter.

A further 62 per cent planned to maintain their investment levels.

Every one of those decisions represents confidence in Tasmanian agriculture. The benefits reach well beyond the farm gate.

A machinery purchase supports a local dealer and workshop. A farm development creates work for contractors and suppliers.

Production supports transport operators, processors and the businesses that service them.

The wider community has a stake in farmers having the confidence to keep investing.

Government does too.

Our recent member survey again identified red tape and the performance of government businesses as concerns for respondents.

Those responses give TasFarmers clear direction about where members want us to focus our work.

They should also give government, the opposition and the businesses providing essential services reason to listen.

Farmers need clear requirements, timely decisions and services that support the practical business of producing food and fibre not more red and green tape.

They need to know what a development will require, what it will cost and how long a decision will take.

When those answers are difficult to obtain, or the process becomes unnecessarily expensive, investment becomes harder to justify.

There is useful work happening, such as drought preparedness through the Tas Farm Innovation Hub and practical projects that help farmers improve production; all contribute to confidence, including our own low emissions livestock project.

They show that industry and government recognise agriculture’s future is worth investing in.

That commitment needs to carry through to fewer rules and regulations, quicker approvals, and investment in infrastructure and services farmers depend on. Confidence has value, but it needs conditions in which it can grow.

We cannot keep expecting farmers to absorb additional costs, navigate greater complexity and carry more uncertainty without consequences for investment. Tasmanian farmers see opportunity here.

They are committing their capital, their skills and their working lives to making something of it.

Government at all levels needs to bring the same commitment to helping agriculture move forward.