NFF to build drought info website

NATIONAL Farmers’ Federation will build a new drought information website using a $400,000 Federal Government grant.

It comes as the farm lobby’s costs for building and maintaining its own Australian Farmers website over the past two years has hit $2 million, amid revelations the site has a useful lifespan of five years.

The Government announced the NFF would receive funding to build and manage the Farm Hub website as part of Canberra’s latest drought support package. It will be a one-stop portal for farmers to access information on drought support from governments and charities.

Asked how the site would differ from existing government sites, NFF chief executive Tony Mahar said there was “no one central point where federal, state and charitable drought support and information is provided”.

“As the peak body representing Australian farmers, it made absolute sense that the NFF lead this important initiative,”

Mr Mahar said.

The $400,000 across three years will include building and maintaining the site.

Meanwhile, the NFF put $443,385 into the Australian Farmers website in 2017-18, while the site depreciated $373,700. However, the NFF’s financial report stated the site generated income of $692,269.

Mr Mahar did not directly answer questions on where the income came from, or what the site’s expenses included, but said the “support of our partners makes it possible to improve information … including through the Australian Farmers platform”.

The NFF’s corporate partners are Coles, Telstra, Crowe Horwath and Prime Super.