AS Premier Colin Barnett headed to the far Eastern Wheatbelt to meet farmers personally, the new Agriculture and Food Minister conducted his own fact-finding mission in the southern part of the region.
Ken Baston visited Narembeen, Bruce Rock, Kondinin, Corrigin, Kellerberrin and Merredin, where he met with farmers, small business owners and other community members to listen and get first-hand information in order to determine how best the government could target their needs.
Farm Weekly caught up with Mr Baston in Bruce Rock where a group of 30 farmers from the area were on hand to discuss the issues they faced.
Throughout the meeting every person in the room had a say on the personal issues that were affecting them and commented on the overarching problems of agriculture in WA.
It was the first time many of them had the chance to meet with an ag minister in such close quarters and it was clear none were happy with how things were travelling in the bush.
Rising input costs, high interest rates, financing issues and lack of government support on Tier 3 and live export were recurring themes throughout the day.
Most surprisingly weather was no longer on the top of the list as many felt a run of good seasons would only delay the inevitable.
The lack of support from government was pinpointed by some as the beginning of the problem.
Farmers had largely been left in the lurch after various governments made decision after decision which seriously affected the way they ran their businesses.
When the single desk was abolished in 2008 there was little to no support for farmers who had to feel their way in a grain marketing environment.
Local farmer Ian Dalton said it meant farmers had to operate in a market they didn't fully understand and a lot of people got burnt.
"I don't think the government fully understood the role the AWB played with marketing of our wheat," he said.
"It evolved to a point where people lost confidence in the way they marketed their wheat and now we are left with just the players in the cash market.
"I am not against the removal of the single desk but there was no education program implemented and it was just one example of us being left in the lurch by government decisions."
Another, more recent, example of this was the decision to ban live export in 2011 which saw farmers and station owners completely stranded with no way to off-load their stock.
Governments were also accused by the crowd of inaction and using the free market as an excuse not to get involved in the struggling industry.
The flow-on affect was also hitting other rural businesses as outlined by Rural Business Development Corporation director Caroline Robinson.
Ms Robinson said confidence was at an all-time low for businesses across all rural areas.
"The businesses that have chosen to remain operating in the Wheatbelt have chosen to continue to support the agricultural industry," Ms Robinson said.
"But at the moment some of those businesses are bearing a huge amount of risk.
"A lot of the time they cannot be paid on time because the farmer has no cash or cannot secure finance.
"While it is bad that the farmer cannot make those payments, the affect on the small businesses is also horrendous."
Mr Baston listened to the crowd with intent and said he understood how important agriculture was for WA.
"I wouldn't be here if agriculture wasn't important and I know there are a number of challenges we have to face," he said.
"Having the Premier take a direct interest in this industry is very important and it hasn't happened in a long time and I will be working closely with him to make things happen."
Mr Baston made it clear he supported the live export trade and understood the importance it had for all WA livestock producers, whether they were involved in the export trade or not.
He also said he recognised the uncertainty in the industry at the moment which was affecting confidence.
"We talked a lot today about lack of confidence and I will be looking closely at crop mitigation and will be meeting people who are involved with that shortly," Mr Baston said.
"I see it as another tool farmers can use and farmers should have the freedom to make that business decision."
Mr Baston said he would also be working for better markets that increased the value of grain or livestock.
He said the tour around the Eastern Wheatbelt was imperative in the early stages of his role to fully understand where farmers were coming from and what could be done to help.
