Mid-year reflections on Queensland agricultural advocacy

QFF membership is made up of peak bodies who collectively represent around 13,000 farmers across the state. Through their membership and engagement with QFF, these peak bodies come together to progress the needs of their farmer members and to ensure a strong voice for Queensland agriculture.

As we move into the second half of the year, it is a good time to reflect on some of the progress being made on the things that matter to Queensland agriculture while also examining the work that still lies ahead.

In May QFF and other industry and community peak bodies celebrated the Queensland Premier’s announcement to implement a ban on carbon capture and storage (CCS) in the Queensland component of the Great Artesian Basin (GAB).

QFF advocated to help achieve this outcome through a coordinated campaign since February 2023 and we welcomed not only the EIS outcome, but in particular the action taken by the Queensland Government in response to the concerns QFF and others raised. We continue to advocate to secure protections for the GAB at a federal level.

The Queensland Fruit & Vegetable Growers (QFVG) have done a tremendous job of humanising the issues faced by growers through their national #WeGiveAFork campaign.

QFVG were also instrumental in reversing changes to the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme that would have significantly impacted growers and were extremely vocal throughout the various supermarket and competition reform enquiries that have been taking place throughout the year.

CANEGROWERS Australia held their inaugural Sugar Cubed conference this year in Mackay, with more than 100 growers and industry leaders convening to discuss priority issues, including market access, biofuels and other means of value-adding in the cane industry.

They have also worked closely with all parties to address the challenges facing their members, including the extension of disaster support for flood-impacted growers in North Queensland, and working to secure outcomes in the Mossman region. The Mossman cane crush has recently commenced following months of uncertainty, and Canegrowers are continuing to fight hard for the future of the local industry.

Cotton Australia have continued to innovate through digitisation including the initiation of new traceability research in support of Australian cotton’s premium sustainability credentials. Their work has also seen the creation of a world first data dashboard that transparently reports Australian cotton information across a range of metrics including production, yield, quality, and social and environmental sustainability.

Cotton Australia are also working with government to support their industry through marketing efforts, including recent delegations to India, ultimately unlocking new opportunities for Australian cotton growers through a Free Trade Agreement.

Each of these examples show the important role agricultural peak bodies perform on behalf of their members. There is still a lot of work to be done on many of these issues, all of which require collaboration and ongoing engagement with government and other stakeholders. With State and Federal Government elections fast approaching QFF will continue to work alongside our members to secure outcomes that strengthen Queensland agriculture. ?

It is a privilege to see peak bodies come together at the QFF policy table, having the difficult discussions, and finding the common ground and areas that we can progress together so that farmers across the state have a stronger future. If you are an agricultural peak body and are not currently a member of QFF and are keen to be part of this unified voice, we would love to hear from you. It is absolutely critical that farmers, agriculture and regional communities are represented in policy discussions at every level.