Agriculture Minister David Littleproud makes first trip to WA in three years with a swag of announcements

Federal Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has made his first visit to WA in three years to announce millions of dollars for horticulture and revegetation projects, and to make a $10m election pledge for farm safety. Mr Littleproud visited WA’s horticultural heartland of Donnybrook on Tuesday to announce a $2.6 million expansion of the Federal Government’s Horticultural Netting program, which enables farmers to access 50 per cent of the cost of buying and installing protective netting for their orchards. He then traveled to Brunswick to tour former WAFarmers dairy section president Michael Partridge’s farm to meet with a handful of young dairy farmers, to hear what their issues main issues were — including labour, live export, and the Dairy Industry Code of Conduct. “The big thing for dairy farmers is the shortage of labour and how important the ag visa would be,” he said. “We have to have access to skilled labour from overseas. We are competing with the iron ore industry, and we need as much help as we can in that space.” It was the first time Mr Littleproud, a Queensland native, had visited WA since 2019, when he met drought-affected farmers in Ravensthorpe and announced $1 million for the State Barrier Fence’s Esperance extension. He planned to spend three days touring farms and meeting with farm advocacy groups but was not expected to meet with Opposition Leader Mia Davies or WA Agriculture Minister Alannah MacTiernan. While in Donnybrook, Mr Littleproud urged the State Government to also tip money into the Horticulture Netting program — with more than $60 million invested by the Commonwealth since its inception in 2019. The $2.6 million added this week was in addition to an initial $2.16 million allocated to WA at the trial’s inception. “If the WA Government was to match us dollar for dollar, this would go a lot further,” Mr Littleproud said. “They administer the program, we want this to be a local solution not a Canberra solution, that’s why we’re saying to the WA Government you need to sit down with producers and work through how to get bang for buck.” Mr Littleproud said the boost would help farmers improve productivity and in turn, farm gate returns. “Properly installed netting can seriously improve both the quality and quantity of fresh food crops, while reducing water usage by up to 30 per cent,” he said. WA’s food bowl regions — including the South West, Great Southern, Kimberley and Gascoyne — produced nearly $800m of fruit, vegetables and nuts in 2019-20 for local, interstate and export markets. Charley Creek farmer John Hearman, who hosted Mr Littleproud at his property, has 8ha of apples, pears and stonefruit on his family farm and said the netting increased friend yields by “at least” 30 per cent. “That is a 30 per cent saving in water and all of the fertilisers and inputs,” he said. “Netting will also save your orchard from hail... which can make you lose one crop every 10 years. “If you don’t have netting, you can’t go away for the weekend. “You would go to church on a Sunday, come back and your crop could be half gone.” While in Donnybrook, Mr Littleproud also announced $4 million to “reward farmers for their stewardship of the land” over the next 10 years through the Coalition’s Enhancing Remnant Vegetation Pilot program. The program involves farmers receiving a “biodiversity payment” in return for undertaking specific management activities which enhance and protect remnant vegetation on their properties. The program — which is delivered under the $91.6 million Agriculture Biodiversity Stewardship Package — will fund an extra 20 on-farm vegetation projects, on top of the initial 54 projects approved in March. Approved activities include management of pest including rabbits and foxes, weed management and installing fencing to restrict grazing on remnant vegetation. Mr Littleproud called it a “chance for farmers to get paid in a way that helps to drought-proof their businesses”. “Farmers have been managing biodiversity on their farms for decades and it’s time they were paid for it,” he said. The pilot will trial elements of new national voluntary legislation designed to underpin a national agriculture biodiversity stewardship market scheme. Mr Littleproud also announced a $10m farm safety election pledge to bolster enhance awareness and safety culture across the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors if re-elected. Calling farms one of the country’s “most dangerous” workplaces, Mr Littleproud said the funding — set to be delivered over four years — would help organisations to develop proposals to resolve safety issues. “We are committed to improving safety awareness and safety culture in the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, so that farmers, fishers, foresters, and their workers and families stay safe,” he said. “While less than one in 20 people work in agriculture, one in five fatalities in the workplace occur on farms. Our Government wants to reduce the risk to farmers and improve safety on farms.” The election promise builds on the $3.5 million allocated to the National Farm Safety Education Fund delivered with FarmSafe Australia to achieve “greater collaborative industry action” to promote better practices.