FARM lobby group WAFarmers will mark a significant milestone this year as it celebrates 100 years of existence.
Originally known as the Farmers and Settlers Association (FSA), the group was formed on March 28, 1912, at a meeting at the Liberal Club in Perth, in response to a log of wage claims from the Rural Workers Union Australia.
The group underwent its first name change in 1920 becoming the Primary Producers Association (PPA).
A merger in 1947 between the PPA and Wheat and Wool Growers' Union saw the formation of the Farmers Union of WA which again changed its name to the Primary Industries Association in 1982 before changing again to the West Australian Farmers' Federation in 1987.
It is now commonly referred to as WAFarmers.
Since it began 100 years ago, WAFarmers has had 18 presidents who have had to deal with a range of issues.
Hyden wheat and sheep farmer Colin Nicholl was one of these presidents after his election in 2004.
Mr Nicholl said he decided to get involved with the group due to a hike in wheat freight prices saying he wanted to bring about a change.
"I realised that freight prices on wheat were exorbitant and that I would be working 20 per cent of my life just to pay the freight prices on my grain," Mr Nicholl said.
While the presidents may have changed over the years it seems the issues haven't.
Mr Nicholl said when he was elected his goal was to take the organisation back to the farmgate and ensure that policies focused on delivering a dividend in the form of lower costs and higher prices, something that still seems to ring true today.
"Back when I was first involved in WAFF, Bob Hawke was the chief advocate for the Trades and Labour Council, he was winning court battle after court battle getting higher wages and better conditions for workers and all of this was being passed back to the grower who had no ability to pass on these costs, so we tried to do something about it," he said.
"A few of the other things I was involved with while president included things like helping with zone motions and trying to improve the efficiency of the grain rail systems.
"The deregulation of the transport of petroleum products was another focus area and essentially this meant farmers could go to tender for the supply of fuel from the cheapest and closest place which cut the price of farm delivery of fuel by up to 9 cents a litre."
Looking to the future for the organisation, Mr Nicholl believes while 100 years is a huge milestone, there still needed to be a realisation there were enormous amounts of cost pressures being loaded onto the farming community.
"We have to remember there is strength in unity," he said
"WAFarmers will only be here in the future if enough farmers are prepared to support it.
"I urge all WA producers to get involved and become members, because as farmers we don't do enough to promote our industry and the benefit we are to the community.
"These are going to be the major issues going forward and if we don't unite we will lose things we have worked so hard to achieve such as the mining veto right and diesel fuel rebates."
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