Balancing The Books Should Be At Budget’s Core - Federated Farmers

Federated Farmers is urging the Government to focus its Budget announcements on how it can cut waste and balance the books.

"The budget will once again need to be more about reducing spending than announcing spending, and farmers will welcome that," Federated Farmers president Wayne Langford says.

"Farmers work hard to balance their books on farm, and we expect to see the Government doing the same.

"Farming businesses are beginning to experience the benefits of lower inflation and interest rates this year. A balanced budget will mean this stability is more likely to continue."

Langford says while big spending isn’t on the cards, one area where there’s a need for a targeted increase in investment is pest management.

"Ballooning numbers of feral deer, pigs and goats - not to mention the spread of wilding pines - continues to have a big economic cost."

Langford says the Department of Conservation spends only about $13 million a year controlling deer, pigs and goats on the public conservation estate, but these pests are costing the country hundreds of millions of dollars in lost food production, export losses and damage on farms.

"Doubling the pest control spend will have a small overall impact on Crown expense but will see exports increase as farmers lose less pasture to pests.

"In the context of total Crown expenditure of $180 billion, a decent boost to pest control budgets wouldn’t be significant but would help short-circuit a compounding problem."

Langford says it would be great to see work on rural mental health also get over the line and receive extra funding.

"Again, this would be a small expenditure increase in the grand scheme of things but with significant positive benefits."

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