WA farmer confidence drops to -44 per cent because of mounting issues affecting the industry

WA farmer confidence has taken a massive -23 per cent hit due to falling commodity prices, rising interest rates, seeding challenges, the threat to the live export trade, and the introduction of new State firearms and Aboriginal Cultural Heritage laws.

According to the latest Rabobank Rural Confidence Survey, published on June 13, confidence among WA farmers had fallen further into negative territory, dropping from -21 per cent last quarter to -44 per cent.

The latest reading, taken from an average of 1000 primary producers across a range of commodities and geographical areas, is the third lowest confidence level recorded since 2004.

It revealed only 7 per cent of the State’s farmers expect agricultural economic conditions to improve in the next 12 months.

Of those who expect the agricultural economy to worsen, falling commodity prices topped the list of concerns at 46 per cent, followed by government intervention and policies, 34 per cent, and rising input costs at 33 per cent.

WAFarmers president John Hassell said farmers could handle the seasonal issues as they arose, such as prices, weather events or a lack of rain, but it was the external issues that were causing the greatest uncertainty and concerns.

“All the regulatory changes to do with the ACH Act and the Voice to parliament are an undue burden and are compounding the lack of confidence in the industry,” Mr Hassell said.

“In terms of the live export trade — we supplied all the right arguments and evidence to support the trade continuing — but all we get back from Government is ‘we have a mandate’, or ‘we are going to do it anyway’.

Mr Hassell said to ease the burden on farmers he would water down the ACH Act, while maintaining cultural heritage, keep the live export trade operating at its current standards, and legislate changes for greater Aboriginal equality rather than changing the Australian constitution.

He also said rather than banks pushing environmental and social governance pressures on their customers they should stick to serving their customers and “keep out of politics”.

Rabobank regional manager for WA Steve Kelly said the latest survey results reflect the outlook of grain growers, nearly half of which were concerned about commodity prices.

“Post-harvest, we saw a number of break-even budgets as farmers came to terms with softer commodity prices and ongoing high input costs including interest rates,” Mr Kelly said.

With crops now in the ground, input costs were listed by 33 per cent of those WA farmers expecting business conditions to decline as a factor for the economy worsening — a drop from 64 per cent the previous quarter when growers were heading into seeding.

“The dip in confidence also reflects patchy seasonal conditions experienced in WA through autumn and low subsoil moisture in parts of the north-eastern wheatbelt and lower Great Southern,” Mr Kelly said.

“The varied start to seeding caused a lot of angst, so the significant rain falls received in early June have delivered a welcome boost for many, while WA sheep producers continue to face uncertainty around what the future will hold for a key market.”

The survey found that the live export phase-out plans by the Government were a factor for 32 per cent of WA farmers who anticipate worsening conditions, and remained top of mind for producers having been compounded in recent months by supply bottlenecks in the State’s processing sector.

“This has resulted in some WA sheep producers retaining stock which would normally have been sold before winter — another contributor to reduced confidence this quarter,” Mr Kelly said.

“Concerns about future market options are captured in WA farmers listing government interventions/policies, as well as the specific threat to the live export market as their main concerns for the agricultural economy.”