New England farmers continue their dominance in the leadership of the state’s peak farming body following board elections on the first day of the NSW Farmers Annual General Conference.
NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin from Mullaley, and Vice President Rebecca Reardon from Moree were re-elected to their positions, unopposed, for a second term, while Tenterfield Mayor Bronwyn Petrie was also re-elected to the NSW Farmers Board. Ian McColl and Justin Everitt were also elected to the board yesterday. Moree’s Oscar Pearse, who was elected to the board last year, was not up for election this year.
Renewable energy transition, national traceability reforms, and managing feral pigs were front and centre in yesterday’s debate, with a cracking pace and brief debate on most items to get through the very full schedule.
“Delegates were very clear today that governments needed to step up – and big time – to ensure farmers could successfully transition through these traceability reforms, without huge costs or regulatory burdens being placed on them,” Mr Martin said.
“Insufficient funding to support producers through these reforms, as well as the lack of tag-free pathways for animals moving directly from their property of birth to slaughter, were among the issues farmers must have addressed and fast to transition to this new system by 2025.”
While delegates voted against a motion to establish a feral pig bounty, farmers supported a call for coordinated measures to fight feral pigs at today’s conference.
Other motions passed at today’s Conference included motions in support of:
• implementing the recommendations of the Dyer review into community engagement on renewable energy projects
• establishing an online mapping portal to guide land use on rural land
• subsiding varroa mite treatment costs for NSW beekeepers.
Many issues were referred to the various committees of the organisation for further consideration. NSW Premier Chris Minns will speak at the conference today.
Top image: Moree’s Rebecca Reardon speaking at the NSW Farmers Annual General Conference yesterday (photo: Katje Ford; NSW Farmers)
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