At the Dowerin Field Day, attendees will find in their Field Day Program, a link to a Farm Weekly run poll that will allow farmers the ability to have their say on whether Western Australia should have a single unified organisation representing industry needs. The results of the poll will confirm growers opinions as to whether they believe agriculture in this state will be better served by having one organisation and one voice servicing the

The state government, or as lawyers like to call it ‘The Crown’, has the ultimate say over what happens to the lands that it oversees. If it wants land farmed, it releases crown land and encourages farmers to come and take up virgin blocks of bush; if it wants minerals mined, it releases exploration acreage and calls for geologists to come and explore. In return it earns rents, royalties and taxes to fill its bottomless

Around 400 BC a Chinese philosopher by the name of Mencius said “People can have a long term life plan only if they know their private property is secure.” 2400 years later these wise words still ring true for farming families across Australia as they struggle towards the next generation of farm ownership. Unfortunately, there has been a substantial decline in support for the security of private property rights by courts and governments over the

We find that whole communities suddenly fix their minds upon one object, and go mad in its pursuit; that millions of people become simultaneously impressed with one delusion, and run after it, till their attention is caught by some new folly more captivating than the first. Charles Mackay 1841 For those who are watching the climate wars with a feeling that the whole debate is becoming a little bit mad, I recommend reading, ‘Extraordinary Popular

Copyright is a key legal principle that allows the creative amongst us to defend the ownership of our creative endeavours. Countries that are weak on copyright are usually also weak on creativity and weak on defending freedoms such as the freedom of speech, so it was with great surprise that WAFarmers received a letter from the Pastoralists and Graziers Association last week that called copyright on a recording of the ABC country hour debate between

Reading back over the achievements of our past Premiers it has become obvious to me that history is a harsh judge of political achievement with only the biggest and most controversial projects being recalled by future generations. To really make your mark as a Premier you have to do something big, bold and controversial. In the post war era David Brand 1959-71 is seen as the standout being responsible for driving the development of the

Listening to Tony Seabrook President of the PGA, debating WAFarmers President Rhys Turton on the ABC Country Hour last week, reminded me of the former United States President Ronald Reagan a Cold War warrior who fought the Evil Empire (The Soviets) into bankruptcy. Seabrook, like Reagan, is a political warrior with an uncompromising approach to politics, his focus is all about clearing the decks to free agriculture from the dead hand of government.  Both Reagan

The Pastoralists and Graziers Association recently launched a campaign to have the full cost of private schooling fees for regional students made fully tax deductable.  On the surface it makes sense when rural families are being forced to make the hard decision to either fork out hundreds of thousands of dollars on private school boarding expenses or split the family and move one parent to the city. We know that the cost of education has

Adam Smith, the famous 18th Century Scottish economist, was the first to recognise that improvements in agriculture is one of the founding drivers of economic growth. His theories which he outlined in The Wealth of Nations around self-interest, specialisation, trade and the invisible hand of the market, have been key to understanding the way the economic world works. This view was rejected by another notable economist Carl Marx, who was also particularly interested in agriculture. 

WAFarmers welcomes the growing interest by the state government in attracting students to work in the primary industry sector via their recently launched Project Primed. The project aims to raise the profile of careers in fisheries, forestry and agriculture, because for too long students have seen these sectors through the prism of men working outdoors offering nothing but low pay and hard work. Our industry has failed to build a picture of a modern workplace