IT'S not every day you see the Minister for Agriculture opening cocky gates and going for a spin in the header, but it was all part of Mark Lewis' visit to WAFarmers president Tony York's farm last week.
Mr Lewis was invited to the Tammin farm as part of a wheatbelt tour that included a visit to the Department of Agriculture and Food WA's (DAFWA) Northam office and the Bureau of Meteorology radar at Kellerberrin.
The visit started with a meeting of local farmers and a tour of Mr York's farm, which included a stop at the old man saltbush plantation that Mr York and his brother Simon have established.
The pair has been long-time supporters of growing the saltbush industry in WA as a feed option for livestock and a way of increasing productivity on salinity-affected land.
Mr Lewis said some of the issues discussed during the visit included the impact frost has had on this year's yield and the potential of multi-peril crop insurance to mitigate this risk, mobile coverage in rural areas, technology in farming and importance of R&D to help farmers remain competitive.
"The speed with which international commodity prices in grain, sheep, cattle and wool have changed in the past few years remind farmers that they need to operate as close as possible to best practice if they are to remain profitable," Mr Lewis said.
"Today's farmers need to be actively embracing new technology and tapping into the best production management support that is available as our competitors around the world are also racing to drive down costs and increase productivity."
For Mr York, the visit was part of a tradition where WAFarmers staff could see harvest in action and understand the issues faced by growers, while Mr Lewis' visit was a welcome addition.
"It was really good to get engaged with him and get an understanding of what the issues are and meet the WAFarmers president on his home turf," Mr Lewis said.
There was plenty to talk about, including how the frost took the cream off Mr York's harvest.
"In our Hindmarsh barley, we are yielding 2.5 tonnes per hectare which is a very good crop for us," Mr York said.
"We are very pleased with results this year, it could have been a fantastic crop but now it's just a good solid average crop - the frost took away the cream."
Mr York spoke to the minister on problems that needed State government support including biosecurity, research and development funding and overseas marketing opportunities.
"Biosecurity is an issue that the industry has been feeling has been left behind and farmers have been left to carry more of the cost of biosecurity," Mr York said.
"As an industry we accept we must carry our burden but there are a lot of biosecurity issues that are not created or caused by agriculture but have a commercial or economic consequence to us.
"The State owns a vast majority of WA and they should be helping to contribute part of the cost of that.
"We are pushing that argument back to the minister and the department in this current government and I think they are hearing that - they have to realise that there's a public obligation for biosecurity."
Mr York said WA agriculture was "very dependent" on R&D and while historically DAFWA had funded a good degree of it, there was concern that a move away from State-based research could negatively impact on industry productivity.
"There is still a function that the government can play in supporting core basic research that isn't funded by commercial interests and we want to encourage government to look at that," he said.
"I think there is a recognition and a re-interest in agriculture and how a State economy can get engaged in that and maybe government should look at putting a floor in its investment into the industry to give us some confidence."
Mr York said frost highlighted the changing risk profile of farming over the past 30 years.
"The margins are a lot thinner, there's a lot more dollars being spent so we are much more vulnerable to changes in climatic changes, such as frost and it's not just a matter of not making much money - it's losing money," he said.
"Thirty years ago it was not like that - the risks are much higher so as an industry we need to look at our risk management, long-term farming systems, and how we can help farmers help themselves to a certain degree."
Despite this, Mr York was buoyant about the opportunities ahead for WA farming, particularly opportunities for new overseas markets.
He pointed to WAFarmers First milk that saw 40 cents from the sale of every two-litre container go back into industry.
"WAFarmers First milk is a little example of how we get consumers to pay a premium for local, clean green, fresh food," he said.
"That's only in WA, but there's no reason why we can't market and brand our produce in the same way overseas.
"We have a great opportunity in the next 10-15 years based on what we hear about middle-class growth, economic power and changing diets," he said.
"Even if only 20pc of this is true there are great opportunities for us and we need to be part of that."