Two of Australia’s top agriculture bodies are banding together in the hope they will be a force to be reckoned with in Canberra.
The National Farmers’ Federation, which represents the nation’s 84,000 farmers, and Agribusiness Australia, which speaks for parties across the food production chain, have signed a memorandum of understanding agreeing to work together on advocacy.
Promoting collaboration between the different arms of the industry will be another focus of the partnership, which the pair hope will help boost Australia’s farm gate production value to $100 billion by 2030.
That would be up from $63 billion in 2016-17.
Agribusiness Australia’s chair Mark Allison says there has been fragmentation in the nation’s agriculture industry for too long.
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‘As we charge towards this ambitious target in 2030, we feel the time is absolutely right to be linked with NFF, and working closely across all divisions in agriculture,’ he told reporters in Canberra on Monday.
NFF chief executive Tony Mahar agreed the sector has been fractured but said the federation has realised the significance of partnerships.
‘Slowly but surely we’re coming together to really achieve all of the opportunities that we know are in front of us,’ he said.
NFF president Fiona Simson said the pair share an interest in policy areas such as tax, regulatory reform, energy, infrastructure, trade and market access and will be a louder voice together.
‘We will present a powerful, united front to the halls of Canberra,’ she said.
