Clumsy, unprofessional, crowded: Ag advocacy must revamp says VFF boss

The "NFF family" of national and state farmer representative bodies costs producers about $100 million a year for its advocacy work, yet failed to achieve the sort of tactical solutions to government, or supply chain, conflicts which other industry groups appeared to regularly lock in.

Earlier this month Ms Germano led a surprise VFF withdrawal from seven national farmer commodity councils, including Cattle Australia, Australian Dairy Farmers and Sheep Producers Australia, saying cost burden had become too much for her organisation's membership to carry.

While admitting agriculture would be far worse off without a nation-wide farm advocacy structure, she said the current operational model was financially unsustainable and failing to get the proper definitions and solutions needed for farmers' problems.

In Sydney addressing the Farm Writers' Association of NSW, she also described the sector's representative firepower as ill-equipped to deal with the complex and substantial issues looming on the horizon.

Those shortcomings included no farm organisation having any environmental lawyers on staff despite the growing environmental policy and management pressures being encountered by farmers.

Meanwhile, the challenge to use advocacy resources more effectively was being undermined by the existence of at least 270 different advocacy organisations claiming to champion farmers' interests.

Jumping on the bandwagon was a common response to perceived industry problems, but not necessarily very constructive.

In 2022 an Australian Farm Institute report also concluded the current advocacy model was not sustainable for the long term.

"Farmers are paying all this money to go around and around in the same circles," Ms Germano said.

At the very least, she argued, agriculture's commodity and state advocacy bodies should look at consolidating back of house operations, including payroll and human resources.

A full understanding of headcount costs was urgently needed, including farm services and support roles such as media and policy research.

"I don't know what the final step should be, and if I suggest something there will be somebody disagreeing with me, but farm sector advocacy must become more sophisticated and professional," she said to resounding applause.

Rather than farmers "shouting from the paddock", the heated debate over supermarket pricing and buying tactics was an example where advocacy could have involved far more proactive engagement strategies, including recommending some solutions to the retail giants.

"The supermarkets are saying we have not engaged with them to discuss what mechanisms we'd like to change - what they could do differently," she said.

Instead, the industry often fell back to relying on farmers to self diagnose its complex relationship with the retail sector, including taking advice from producers who did not even supply food products to supermarkets.

"We probably should have gone directly to the supermarkets and created a safe space to deal with them and work on a solution," she said.

In a similar vein, the Victorian government may have encountered fewer roadblocks and delays to its goal of 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035 if it had worked alongside the farm advocacy sector to find practical solutions before plans for power lines and other infrastructure were rolled out.

"With $100m in operational funds sloshing around in the farm advocacy bucket I don't think farmers are getting the outcomes other industry groups achieve," she said.

"If you look at the minerals council or the pharmacy guild, I doubt we're getting the sort of outcomes they'd expect for their membership."

Farmers can typically pay fees of up to $1500 for membership to their state organisations, entitling them to services ranging from workplace relations advice to training, property mapping, industry news and entitlements to discounts on fuel, vehicle purchases and insurance.

The National Farmers Federation recently began reviewing data around the industry's national advocacy framework and business model, including looking at making changes to producer representation if needed.