CUTTING the red tape on low-risk stockfeeds will save farmers $10 million a year, Minister for Agriculture Barnaby Joyce announced in Gunnedah on Friday.
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Mr Joyce visited Leon’s Pork to make the announcement, taking a walk through the piggery to take a first-hand look at the privately owned operation.
But he had no word on further drought assistance, except to say a plan would be put together in “the next week or so”.
Mr Joyce said piggeries in the region had been hit hard over the years by the costs of transport and changes in infrastructure, and excessive regulations could be “the straw that breaks the camel’s back”.
“There are only a small number of pork producers left in the New England region,” he said.
He said the government was trying to “wind back the regulatory burden” and assist industries who were finding it more and more difficult to make a living.
“We have taken the necessary steps to reduce cumbersome red tape and unnecessary regulation to improve this access to a range of low-risk stockfeed products,” Mr Joyce said.
Leon’s Pork owner Leon de Groot said any reduction in costs and regulations was “more than welcome”.
He said as a small farm, he needed to employ someone almost full-time just to deal with regulations and paperwork.
“Regulations and inspections are very, very costly,” he said.
The removal of the regulations will affect products including vitamins, dietary supplements, and some probiotic and enzyme products now classified as veterinary chemicals.
“The new regulations will still contain effective measures to safeguard human and animal health, environmental or trade risks that could jeopardise Australia’s $38 billion agricultural export trade,” Mr Joyce said.
“From January 1, 2015, the government, working with the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority, will make these low risk stockfeeds available to Australian farmers without the process costs and time an individual assessment can take.”
The Australian Bureau of Agricultural Economics and Sciences has estimated the cuts in regulations will save farmers between $7.5 and $10 million a year.
Mr Joyce said more than 11 million tonnes of stockfeed was used in Australia each year, with the pig industry using about 14 per cent of that.
For photos of Mr Joyce’s visit to Carinya Christian School and the CWA, see Thursday’s Namoi Valley Independent.
