Australian ag leaders stood shoulder to shoulder on the banks of the Murray River near Albury recently to warn about the dangers of further water buybacks, but questions soon turned to fuel and fertiliser supply and seasonal conditions. Here is some of what they had to say.
National Farmers Federation President Hamish McIntyre said the outlook was "mostly positive" for livestock farmers, with some tariff headwinds, supported by a broad base of markets across the world.
"The world wants the commodities we're producing, which is wonderful. We've always got areas that are doing very well and areas that are doing it tough. And I'm afraid that that is the way it is."
Mr McIntyre said the federation was rebuilding relationships with government after a particularly prickly period, culminating in the 2024 Agricultural Industry Budget Breakfast walkout during then Minister for Agriculture Murray Watt’s address.
"We've certainly got doors open again that have been closed. So look, we've moved forward. We now have very close working relationships," Mr McIntyre, who was on the board of the NFF at the time and supported the decision, said.
"I have ministers calling me even on Saturday mornings, which is great, to discuss options with dealing with this current crisis at the moment. I think we've rebuilt, and we've got confidence in each other.
"It's better off to be in there working with government than on the outside.
"I think farmers, and particularly livestock producers, can have confidence that the fuel, from what we see at the moment, will continue to flow."
Mr McIntyre said the NFF had also been working on extreme case scenarios, such as supply dropping back to 10%, and modelling how that would be handled. While the work will hopefully not be needed, he wanted people to know plans were being developed.
NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin raised seasonal conditions as a key issue.
"As we speak, there's either droughted or drought affected landscape across more than half of the state, that is in concert with other matters like increasing interest rates, like the fuel and fertiliser dysfunction, it is causing considerable pause to many farmers," he said.
"What I'm pleased about is that at the dozens of branch meetings I go to of NSW Farmers, is that farmers are stopping and thinking about the dynamics they're dealing with."
He said farmers were used to risk and were dealing with new pressures.
"They're considering the merit of what they can do and how they can do it, whether it's the moisture in their soil, whether the condition of their livestock, whether it's the fuel or fertiliser they've got on hand, and to the extent that we're looking out for a good winter break and rainfall events that will bring opportunity for pasture and cropping."
Brett Hosking, who was Victorian Farmers Federation President at the time of the interview but last week stood down after being endorsed as the candidate for the seat of Murray Plains, said farmers were feeling quite blessed in many parts of his state.
However, some good early rains and sowing activity could not offset the "growing complexity" of decision making.
"We've got a lot of a lot of discussion about potential weather threats later on in the year, like with the forming of an El Nino. We've got what's happening overseas, in the Middle East, with with Trump and Iran, and what the impact that's having on fuel prices, fuel availability, nitrogen fertiliser, both pricing and availability. It's creating a lot of uncertainty amongst farmers at the moment, and a lot of a lot of nervous decision making."
He reported a shift towards some legume crops that do not require nitrogen throughout the year and, in some instances, producers carrying fewer livestock so they have the ability and confidence to feed and support them, and produce a strong product at the end of the year without the risk of carrying extra numbers.
"What that potentially means, though, is that our farmers are not always capitalising on what's going on in the environment around them, not always reaching the full potential of what's available in the paddock at any particular time, we do need to ensure there's mechanisms that give them that confidence to go out there and perform to what the season's telling them potentially they could deliver," Mr Hosking said.
"So when we're talking about fuel, we're making sure government are giving farmers the confidence of fuel, first of all, be available, but second, I will be a bit available to manage manageable price for them as the season goes on.
"When we're talking about nitrogen fertiliser, we're sending the same message to government, they need to give farmers those market signals to be able to say, all right, as a farmer, I'm going to invest in this season's crop because that's what the season's telling me to do. It's what the climate's telling me to do. So the markets are telling me to do, and it's also what my input availability is telling me I can do safely. At the moment, our farmers don't have that confidence."
He said despite these challenges, he remained optimistic about farming in Victoria.
"I've got my daughter home on the farm, and nothing lifts you like having one of your children farming alongside you," he said.
"I am feeling the pressure of all those outside forces and also thinking about what decisions I can be making that I can control right now that will help me maximise the returns from that farm without exposing us to risk. And I don't think I'm unique at that."