Quambatook mixed farmer Brett Hosking was announced as the newly elected President of the Victorian Farmers Federation on Friday morning.
He will work with Vice-President Peter Star, a livestock producer from Tallangatta in the state's North East.
Mr Hosking defeated egg producer Danyel Cucinotta, who had been the organisation's Vice-President for the past four years. Mr Star defeated Mallee stone-fruit grower Nathan Free for the role of vice-president.
Mr Hosking is an experienced and respected agricultural advocate and has previously served as Vice-President of the VFF (2016-2018) and President of the VFF Grains Group. He is also a Director of the Birchip Cropping Group and Farmers for Climate Action and Chair of the Grains Market Access Committee for Grains Australia and a former Grain Growers Chair.
Mr Star has been VFF Livestock Vice-President since 2022. He is also the VFF representative to the National Wild Dog Action Plan Stakeholder Consultative Group and has held other VFF positions on the Land Management Committee and the VFF Board.
The outgoing leadership of President Emma Germano and Ms Cucinotta had ruffled feathers within the membership organisation over controversial decisions such as cashing in commodity group assets, proposing constitutional changes that centralised power to its board and away from commodity groups, and quitting peak farming industry groups.
In recent years the VFF had also been marred with legal battles to oust its President and Vice-President, the resignation of a number of board members and dairy farmers resigning en masse to form their own lobby group - all with a background of dwindling memberships and financial pressures.
More to come ...