Farm Weekly grains writer BOBBIE HINKLEY asked both WA growers who attended the rural debt roundtable meeting for their thoughts:
John Nicoletti (Merredin)
Bobbie Hinkley (BH): Was the meeting successful?
John Nicoletti (JN): Yes it was. For a start, we don't get any hearing from our local lobby groups, WAFarmers or the PGA. They think there are no problems in the bush. They're only kidding themselves. If a grower lives at Calingiri or New Norcia or Toodyay they probably don't have the same level of problems eastern Wheatbelt farmers do. There is a real problem in the marginal areas. It's not about me. It's absolutely nothing to do with me because I'll survive. My theory is that farming has to be turned into a profitable profession and if we're not going to introduce multi-peril crop insurance or if we're not going to try to bring the dollar down with some form of subsidisation there is not going to be anybody left out here. There are some lovely young people in the farming game and they're becoming very despondent. We need the young ones to come back to the farm in the future. I'm not interested in the politics. We have a problem right now and we need to solve it. There was no political agenda at the meeting and we weren't there on a bank-bashing mission. We were there to address a real roundtable crisis that's being felt across the whole agricultural sector.
BH: Was a roundtable meeting the best way to go about tackling the subject?
JN: It was fantastic to have Treasurer Wayne Swan sit there and listen to us. I'm not one to sit down and write a 10 page letter. To me it was about the wheat growers of WA and South Australia. We've had 10 droughts followed by successive years of poor prices. We've never been able to build equity in our businesses and in turn young people aren't encouraged to come home. If we never address that problem we'll never have rural Australia. I'm happy to sell out to the foreigners but that doesn't solve the problem.
BH: What will come of the meeting?
JN: It's hot on Bob Katter's agenda and because we have an election looming in the next 12 months I think something may happen. Wayne Swan acknowledged there was a problem and the government needed to change how it did things going forward. That was the most positive thing to come out of the whole meeting.
BH: What is your biggest concern surrounding agricultural debt levels in WA?
JN: My main concern is about young people and the small suffering communities. The average farmer has a three to five or six to seven million dollar asset. If he only has 10 per cent of it left when he retires or sells up, he has only got $500,000-$600,000. It's pretty disgraceful for that to happen after three to five generations of farming. I might have $100 million or $200m and if I've got 10pc of that I've still got $10-$20m so I'll survive and I'll get by. But it's not about me surviving. I run John Deere dealerships and John Deere wants me to grow the businesses. I've got people who come in to talk to me, they've got issues and have nowhere to turn. In my John Deere dealerships there are outstanding accounts to the tune of $3m which I am carrying. What does that say? There is no money and we need the government to make a commitment of some sort.
John Shadbolt (Mukinbudin)
Bobbie Hinkley (BH): Was the meeting successful?
John Shadbolt (JS): Yes. When you can put your point of view to the Treasurer, the Federal Agriculture Minister and all the heads of agribusiness, it makes for some meaningful discussion.
BH: Was a roundtable meeting the best way to go about tackling the subject?
JS: It was a great format because it wasn’t complicated by politics and most of the views expressed covered off on most industries.
BH: What will come of the meeting?
JS: Nothing will occur from that meeting in isolation but I’m hopeful there will be some more meetings and more points will be raised in order to bring about government action.
BH: What is your biggest concern surrounding agricultural debt levels in WA?
JS: My biggest concern is for our communities and for our young people. People are slowly being forced to leave our rural communities to go elsewhere to look for jobs because of the debt levels and the fact that farm kids aren’t being encouraged to come home. We need viable communities and the more people that leave the less chance of that we’ve got. The Treasurer remarked on the high dollar and said that he can’t do anything about it. But he also spoke about the possible establishment of an agricultural bank. Many of the ideas spoken about won’t solve the problem but they’re certainly a step in the right direction. I was pleased to attend. The meeting was good. The surprising thing is that the debt levels throughout Australia are all the same and that has been happening since the late 1990s, with increasing free trade agreements and industry deregulation. Unfortunately we have to stem the tide somehow and try to get some profits back. We know our debt levels are rising but our profit levels aren’t going anywhere.
