AWB shareholder growers have only a week to vote on the future of the wheat board.

This is not the time to let someone else to make the decisions.
It is time this company moved into the new age of marketing.
Growers can no longer expect that having a control of a company through directors will give them the best service and price.
Only a quarter of shareholders bothered to vote on constitutional changes last week; losing the vote would have been a disaster for AWB and its grower shareholders.

A-class shareholder growers, make sure you have your say by going to www.awb.com.au.

Click here to register your interest in the VFF/Telstra Offer today

The Victorian Farmers Federation has welcomed today’s State Government training package for providing useful solutions to the skills shortage.

The $316m package includes funding for more training places, a program for businesses to develop their employees’ skills and a university-style loan scheme for students.

The VFF Education Committee Chairman Gilbert Fryatt said training was the key to tackling the skills and labour shortages in agriculture.

The Victorian Farmers Federation is calling on rural communities to join the emissions trading debate.

The VFF President Simon Ramsay said the cost of living for rural residents could increase dramatically when emissions trading starts.

“We know that energy and fuel prices will rise significantly when the Federal Government’s Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme is introduced,” Mr Ramsay said.

The Full Federal Court has today unanimously upheld an appeal against a decision to relieve an animal activist from paying for damages caused by contaminating sheep feed.

The original decision by a single judge of the Federal Court, if allowed to stand, could have compromised Australia’s live export trade.

Today’s ruling found that Hahnheuser’s protest was against the live export of sheep and not, as his defence claimed, an act of environmental protection.

The VFF is urgently calling on growers to act to secure the future of AWB.

The VFF Grains Group Deputy President Andrew Weidemann said proposed constitutional changes to AWB were too important for the majority of growers not to participate.

“AWB has said it needs these changes in order to move forward and be able to offer a competitive price to Australian wheat growers,” Mr Weidemann said.

The VFF is moving to end confusion over new safety training regulations at saleyards.

New Occupational Health and Safety rules have been introduced with saleyards employees, agents and buyers required to undertake training to attend saleyards.

VFF members have been asking whether farmers who are selling and delivering stock are to be included in the training.

The Victorian Farmers Federation is calling for an independent review of the First Mildura Irrigation Trust (FMIT) before the State Government goes ahead with a planned takeover.

The State Government will determine today whether it will appoint Lower Murray Water to take over the operations of the FMIT, because of claims it has failed to comply with financial and governance regulations.

The VFF President Simon Ramsay said the claim that an FMIT investment was a breach of the Borrowing and Investment Powers Act (1987), did not provide conclusive evidence that the FMIT was poorly governed or was an unviable entity.

Farmers will be able to plan with more certainly for summer thanks to the Federal Government’s timely rollover of the Exceptional Circumstances declarations.

The Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has adopted the National Rural Advisory Council’s (NRAC) advice to continue the Northern Victorian EC declarations that were due to expire on September 30.

VFF President Simon Ramsay said the uncertainty surrounding EC support had made coping with the drought more difficult.

The Victorian Farmers Federation's (VFF) Grains Group has urged all members to vote yes on the proposed AWB constitutional changes.

VFF Grains Group President, Geoff Nalder said that it was time for the industry to move forward in spite of the many challenges it faced.

"For too long we have been hampered by debates over structure rather than ensuring growers have access to the tools needed to ensure their success," Mr Nalder said.