The Queensland Farmers’ Federation (QFF) is calling on all political parties to end the decade of energy and climate wars that has resulted in poor policies that are crippling parts of agriculture, and adopt the solutions put forward by the Agricultural Industries Energy Taskforce this federal election.
QFF President Stuart Armitage said Australia had gone from having a competitive advantage in energy costs to being one of the most expensive countries in the world, resulting in many irrigated and intensified farm businesses losing their ability to compete globally, significant job losses and lower levels of production.
“The price of electricity has increased about 10 times the rate of inflation over the last 10 years for Queensland farmers,” Mr Armitage said.
“As trade-exposed price takers, farmers have virtually no ability to offset these costs, which is seriously impacting their ability to produce food, fibre, foliage and renewable fuel for Australians and the world.”
“For a country with so many natural advantages in energy and agriculture, the current state of affairs is totally unacceptable and must be fixed.”
“The comprehensive package of solutions put forward by the Taskforce would see the electricity market work like a market; eliminate the excessive profit margins that are costing Australia jobs and production; and support farmers moving to renewable power with storage.”
The Ag Energy Taskforce is an informal group of peak national, state, regional, commodity and irrigator organisations focussed on finding energy policy solutions for agriculture and is convened by the National Irrigators’ Council. The Taskforce’s election policy package is available at: https://www.irrigators.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/NIC_federal_election_2019_ENERGY.pdf