NSW Farmers Board members have covered 2800km across the region listening to local branches and discussing critical issues such as renewable energy.
The impact of renewable developments was first raised by the Coolah-Cassilis Branch, but was repeated several times during the tour, local Regional Service Manager Mick Collins said.
“A lot of our smaller communities just aren’t set up to cope with the massive influx of workers and materials to build all of these new power installations,” Mr Collins said.
“Our board members were impressed with the depth of knowledge and research from our branches, and there are likely to be several issues debated at our Annual Conference in July coming out of these meetings.”
The issue of concessional registration for Farm Fire Units – firefighting vehicles that seldom leave the farm and as a result are not registered – was also raised, as was access to health services, Mr Collins said. Another major concern was the ongoing battle against gas and mining projects on the Liverpool Plains.
“This tour really highlighted that no matter where you’re from, farmers have some common issues that we as an Association will take forward,” Mr Collins said.
“We want to see common sense solutions to everyday problems, and we want to make sure we’re not losing good productive farm land to industrialisation.
“If we’re going to continue to produce the state’s food and fibre, our farmers need supportive policies from governments, and NSW Farmers is certainly going to work hard in advocating for those outcomes.”
