THE Department of Agriculture and Food's (DAFWA) decision to sell off so-called "lazy assets" in the regions has upset locals.
Local shire presidents are outraged about the State Government's decision to sell 55 sites across WA, including research stations, district offices and depot yards.
One of the research centres to be sold is in Badgingarra.
This station has a land area of 1240 hectares and infrastructure which includes an office, five houses and farm sheds.
Shire of Dandaragan president Shane Love said he was disappointed the government had made the decision to sell the centre and believed it was still an asset worth retaining.
"The Badgingarra site has been used in recent years by the community for a variety of uses such as trial work," Mr Love said.
"There are community cropping programs done on the site and the building is used as accommodation for shearing teams and other people who need somewhere to stay.
"It has continued to be an asset to the shire and the description of it being a 'lazy asset' is a bit unfortunate.
"It is quite disappointing from our view that the department has taken this step."
Mr Love said he was not consulted on the final decision by DAFWA or the State Government, but admitted the shire had had a number of discussions with them about the future of the research station.
"I guess the writing has been on the wall for about 18 months," he said.
"We take issue with the current government's decision to sell the assets now because there isn't an immediate use for them, but they could have used them in the future as a public asset."
He said the research station was a required resource in the region but the shire was not in a position to buy the property.
"We wouldn't have the financial resources to buy the centre," he said.
"I don't agree with the policy at all.
"I think the community of Badgingarra will be very disappointed at this news"
Further south in Goomalling, the State Government has a vacant depot just out of town which will be sold.
Shire of Goomalling president John Bird said the shire was in the process of organising a meeting with the minister because it was concerned about the plan to move the local DAFWA employee to Northam because of the travel.
"They are going to move him and all his stuff to Northam but then he is going to have to commute from Goomalling, where he lives, to Northam, then back again to visit all the people around here," he said.
"The shire owns the facility and the government gets the facility for very little rent so I don't see any reason for him having to move.
"We are in the process of organising a meeting with Mr Redman to try and get him to reverse his decision."
Mr Bird said the shire did know the selling of assets was imminent for some time and had expressed its concerns previously but the decision still went ahead.
Shire of Manjimup president Wade De Campo said the decision was just hypocrisy from the State Government.
"The government says it wants to invest in food and invest in more research and development and then it puts its agricultural centres on the market," Mr De Campo said.
"Up until now they have been talking about investing more money into the research station and the fact we are part of the SuperTowns project, we have promoted more investment into research and development for our local horticultural research for not only us but also for the Wheatbelt.
"We believe the level of investment activity should be increased not decreased."
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