The peak farming body has described the Federal Budget as having "twisted the knife" into Australian ag following the banning of live sheep exports and questioned how much value spending on extra tools to manage drought, cut emissions and support mental health will deliver.
The 2024/25 budget headline figure allocates $789 million over the next eight years for the agricultural sector, with a keen focus on managing and mitigating the threats of climate change.
"Farmers are on the frontline of climate change, facing more intense and frequent natural disasters and weather extremes which is already hurting the bottom line," Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said on Tuesday.
"The Albanese government is committed to helping farmers and regional communities across the country become more productive and more profitable, while also reducing their emissions."
But farmers groups have described the Budget as "painful", saying it does little to ease the pain of ending live sheep exports from Western Australia.
“The budget confirms $107 million to cancel the trade, and to add insult to injury, only $64.6 million will go to producers and the supply chain," said NFF President David Jochinke.
“Farmers from across the nation are still reeling from Saturday’s announcement the live sheep trade will be wiped out in just four years.
“This is a bitter blow. What we say to the Government is reverse the ban, keep your money and we’ll call it even.
“This is a painful budget for Australian farmers and this is a kick in the guts when we are already down.”
Mr Jochinke also criticised a signature item for ag - the $519m over eight years for the Future Drought Fund - saying only $42.2 million is new money.
The majority of that funding will be spent on continuing locally-led drought resilience and innovation hubs.
The $64m earmarked over 10 years to support emissions reduction across agriculture as Australia moves to net zero by 2050 has been cautiously welcomed.
“This announcement should prove a solid down payment on investing in agriculture’s approach to addressing climate change. We look forward to understanding the detail,” Mr Jochinke said.
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RSM Australia's National Agribusiness Leader Ross Paterson described the budget as "underwhelming".
Based in Fremantle, Mr Paterson said the $107m previously announced for the phase-out of the live sheep industry would do little to incentivise processors to expand capacity,
"The biggest issue we are seeing is the abattoirs pretty much turning away business as it stands. Some of that $107m has been talked about as helping to improve capacity. It's a short time-frame to suddenly have abattoirs that are flat out already add additional capacity within four years and actually (be) enough money to help set it up.
"It has go to be viable and the private sector is going to have to come to the conclusion that is worth investing in.
"It looks like the sheep industry in WA is going to be reducing quite significantly."
Mr Paterson also called out the funding cuts for the gap year program AgCAREERSTART and the Harvest Trail Services program, saying it would exacerbate the existing labour issue.
"One of the big issues in ag is trying to find people to actually get the work done. There's nothing in the budget to really support that, so it's going to continue to an issue for farmers," he said.
Mr Paterson was also disappointed that there was nothing for the agriculture sector from the $23 billion Made in Australia package.
"I thought there would be something in agri for that. Farmers are quite vulnerable because a lot of the inputs are coming in from overseas and it would be great to have more product being made in Australia, whether it's fertilisers, chemicals, and so forth. Clearly they sort of just focusing in on the renewables and rare minerals."
The extension of the $20,000 instant asset write-off until 30 June 2025 for firms with under $10m in turnover was welcomed but Mr Paterson said that farmers should maintain financial discipline.
"For farmers, there's a lot coming at them. There's high interest rates, higher tax burdens for quite a few, concerns about a lack of rain. The main thing i would suggest is just being disciplined. Do your cash flow budgets and look at where you can make savings because it is going to be quite challenging for the next 12 months or so," he said.
With AAP
