Over the past half a century or so we have seen a major consolidation of farmland and the industrialisation of farming, which has led to great numbers of farmers moving off the land to the cities. This has been terrible for Regional Australia.
The industrialisation of farming, which requires significant use of toxic chemicals (fertilisers and biocides) in the production of our foods, has also been terrible for our environment, our health as consumers, and the health of our farmers. Those farming practices remove trees and shrubs, kill vast numbers of native insects and animals, and degrade soil quality. The latter reduces resilience to periods of lower rainfall (due to it absorbing and retaining far less rainfall) and causing dust storms.
CLA would like to see a significant reduction in the amount of synthetic chemicals and biocides used in the production of food and would like to see farmland employing lots more people. CLA will, however, not set targets or mandate reductions. Rather, a CLA government will invest in R&D and pilot projects showing that farm profitability and returns on investment can be increased by reducing the use synthetic chemicals and biocides and significantly increasing the number of people working on the farms. (Note – this is not a grant or a loan or a subsidy – it’s an investment, and one from which government can expect a handsome return)
CLA will also reduce red-tape and bureaucratic processes for establishing animal processing facilities, thereby giving farmers the ability to sell meat under their own brand directly to retail butcheries and even directly to consumers. More micro-abattoirs will be established under a CLA government than anytime over the past few decades. Government will be required to develop a model that can be scaled and adopted broadly.
Currently farmers have negligible access to equity capital, even the most successful (profitable) farmers are essentially unable to secure equity capital to grow their farming operations. That is an appalling situation, one that adversely affects our entire country. CLA’s policies will provide farmers with far greater access to capital.
CLA will encourage farmers to consider multi-facit farming (multiple interrelated farming practices on the same piece of land) by showing the viability of such farming practices. This style of farming will be better for our environment, better for farmer mental health, better for consumer health, animal welfare, and farm profitability. It also offers far more employment and business opportunities, requires more investment per acre and will attract more visitors, so will be enormously beneficial for Regional Australia. A CLA government will however not mandate this farming model, nor will it provide grants or subsidies. Since our equity markets are not efficient, a CLA government will consider investment. Once up and running, once the model is a proven success, government will sell its equity stake for what CLA expects to be a major profit and will continue doing so until the equity markets provide the necessary capital.
A CLA government will not provide subsidies, interest free loans, or grants to struggling farmers. Just like any other industry, the less profitable and less resilient farming businesses should be allowed to fail.