Farmers: We have your back

Victorian farm leaders and grains, livestock, horticulture, dairy, chicken, egg and pork industry representatives have reassured Victorians there is abundance of food available to feed the state.

Victorian Farmers Federation president and Wimmera farmer David Jochinke urged Victorians against panicking and to be confident in food supply.

“We understand that there is panic and fear. Victorian farmers are well placed to meet the demand. We feed you and we will continue to feed you,” he said.

“We know these are unprecedented times. As always, we have your back.”

Mr Jochinke said it was timely for everyone to reflect on the ‘remarkable’ scale of food that Victorians produced.

“We produce more than we consume. We are a nett exporter. At the moment, we are experiencing an unrealistic urge in demand. That means, if Victorians continue to purchase in bulk, it might take a few days to get things from paddock to plate,” he said.

Mr Jochinke said Victorian food-production figures put the situation into context.

Figures show Victoria provides 23 percent of Australia’s total gross value of agriculture; 42 percent of Australia’s sheep and lamb meat; 62 percent of Australia’s milk and 32 percent of Australia’s horticultural products.

Mr Jochinke said Victoria had a strong competitive advantage across multiple agricultural industries including a global reputation as a source of clean, safe food and fibre and diversity of food.

“Undoubtedly, there will be some challenges going forward,” he said.

“We are keeping a close watch on workforce, labour and supply-chain issues as well as the reactions from our trading partners.

“The VFF continues to work closely with federal and state governments to map these issues, plan for them and address them.”

Mr Jochinke said COVID-19 might affect the movements of seasonal, casual and permanent workers and that might have an impact on the ability of farms to secure much-needed workers.

“Similarly, there might be attendant supplychain issues associated with transportation including road, air and freight,” he said.

“In terms of our trading partners, we are seeing product being redirected away from China to other markets including Japan, USA and South East Asia.

“Agriculture has proven time and again to be able to withstand many of the economic shocks that often decimate other industries and we anticipate this pandemic will be no different.”

Mr Jochinke said an example of this was the release of Rabobank’s quarter-one Rural Confidence Survey which found 41 percent of Victoria’s farmers expected conditions to improve in 2020.

The survey found confidence surrounding strong incomes this year was feeding into investment planning for the year ahead, with more than a quarter of farmers, 27 percent, looking to increase their business investment.

“We applaud the stimulus packages, the work of the banks and corporate Australia. We are in this together and we are working in close partnership with government,” Mr Jochinke said. • More on farming, see

Aglife, pages 19-27.