WAFARMERS will hold a crisis meeting on Friday March 19, to make a public appeal to State and Federal Governments about the pending disaster about to hit the WA Wheatbelt.
Long-serving WAFarmers member Bob Iffla said the farm lobby group was in the process of organising a Rural Crisis Meeting.
He said the time and venue, probably around Lake Grace or Kulin, would be decided in the next few days.
Mr Iffla said farmer morale in the Wheatbelt was “shocking” at the moment, with many farmers looking at the upcoming season with fear and trepidation, and as a “make or break season”.
“Every second person you speak to, if they don’t have a good season this year, is saying they are getting out of farming, because there’s no profitability in it,” he said.
“It is very, very worrying, especially for grain growers.
“There’s no protection for farmers with their risk management and there’s no single desk for wheat growers.
“We all knew this would happen to us when they took the single desk away, but just not this quick.”
Mr Iffla said he expected hundreds of farmers at attend the meeting.
He said several politicians had already been invited, including Wagin MLA Terry Waldron and Regional Development Minister Brendon Grylls, but they had not yet accepted their invitations.
“A lot of consultants said to hold off selling grain last year and not to hedge early, which we did, but we got caught when the prices went down,” he said.
“The grain prices dropped and so did our yields, which has created an awful situation.
“It’s dog-eat-dog out here and that’s causing some real problems.”
Mr Iffla said the meeting would publicise the extent of the looming crisis and help politicians understand how serious the problem was becoming.
Independent farm consultant David Falconer, of ConsultAg, said this year’s budgeting round had been the toughest he had been involved with in 20 years.
Mr Falconer said the annual budgeting process involved a review of last year’s financial performance of individual farm businesses, and the results impact on planning for the upcoming season.
He said many farmers had a dry start to 2009, and never recovered, resulting in lower than expected yields.
He said initial yield estimates were “way over the top”, with many farmers across the Wheatbelt disappointed by the final result, and now looking at reduced cropping programs in 2010 due to a lack of funds.
Mr Iffla also appealed to Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke to do more and assist with addressing the problem.
He said most farmers were having trouble financing this season’s crop.
The lack of confidence and finance was being driven by three factors; high input costs; lack of rain; and low commodity prices, he said.
“These factors have all culminated in people losing hundreds of thousands of dollars and that’s not sustainable,” he said.
“We may need to look at some form of subsidisation.
“You would think we lived in a different country to the people in the city.
“I know there are more votes in the city, but our politicians need to start thinking about us, otherwise the city folk will be paying much higher food costs.”
Mr Iffla said he hoped the Rural Crisis Meeting would stir Government into action.
“It will at least outline the situation to the public and some of the politicians and we hope the Government will start responding,” he said.
Farm Weekly has also spoken to other growers, farm advisors and industry members in recent weeks, who have reflected a similar feeling about the up-coming season.
Speaking at the annual Crop Updates last week, WA Grains Group Chairman Doug Clarke said a large number of growers suffered losses last season due to the “double whammy” of lower grain prices and lower yields and were now under intense budget pressure.
He said some growers had taken losses of up to $1.2million last season, while a prominent WA grower was reported to have lost $500,000, despite having his second best return on grain volume.
“There’s a lot of pain out there, ask any of the consultants they will back it up,” he said.
“Farmers are doing their budgets now, but there won’t be too many positive budgets this year.
“There’s 30pc more farms on the market now than there is normally at this time of year.
“No one is jumping out of their skin telling me they are having a terrific time.
“Budgets are also under pressure because they got caught by the high chemical and fertiliser and fuel prices last year, and fertiliser has started to rise again.
“We are getting belted from pillar to post with input costs which it is vital now, that we use every dollar we can to improve our bottom line and remain profitable.”
* Read the full story in next week’s Farm Weekly.
Email a friend