Special visit: Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud, tomato farmer Bruce Weeks and local MP Sam Birrell talked about issues facing Bruce during a visit last week. Photo: Supplied.
During his visit to the region, the leader of The Nationals David Littleproud joined Sam Birrell MP in visiting local producers to discuss the issues they were currently facing.
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Mr Birrell said while many wine producers like Timmering are doing well, there is increasing concern for the broader sector if water buybacks are introduced by the Federal Government.
“There is a fear that under pressure, wine grape growers will be targeted for water buybacks under the Albanese Government’s disastrous Murray-Darling Basin changes,” he said.
“As we saw with dairy during the first round of buybacks, once the water is sold, the production is gone forever, and it has a lasting negative impact on agriculture, communities and the economy.”
Big issue: Mr Birrell said he's hearing from farmers around concerns about water buybacks. Photo: Supplied.
During the visit, Mr Littleproud and Mr Birrell met with a tomato grower facing another challenging season after unseasonal rainfall in January.
“A block of younger plants has partially recovered, but the yield will be low,” Mr Birrell said.
“This farm has been growing tomatoes for 40 years and has been a supplier to SPC for many years. It’s stories like this that reinforce the importance of supporting local growers and demanding supermarkets to back home-grown producers.”
Mr Littleproud agreed that more needed to be done by the Federal Government to support farmers regarding the major supermarkets.
“I don’t think we need more reviews, I think we just need to put in bigger powers for the ACCC to square up with these supermarkets who are taking advantage of producers and taking advantage of consumers,” he said.
Local farming: Sam Birrell and David Littleproud talk to Rochester tomato grower Bruce Weeks about his recovery from the October 2022 floods.
“We just want fair, transparent prices from the farm gate to your plate. Farmers aren’t looking for fixed prices, they want fairness. When the supermarkets take advantage of their market dominance, you need to have strong regulatory guidelines and penalties.”
The prioritisation of locally sourced produce is something that Mr Birrell said he is passionate about.
“Something that I’m really passionate about and something that I talk about a lot in Parliament is Australian grown and Australian produced food - the quality of it and the fact that we’ve got to make sure we allow these guys to compete against foreign imports,” he said.
“It’s a better product than what comes in from Italy and other parts of the world, and it provides so many jobs for the people here."
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