THE WAFarmers Corrigin-Lake Grace Zone has passed a motion of no-confidence in WA's Agriculture and Food Minister Terry Redman.
Tensions between Mr Redman and the leadership of WA's biggest farm lobby group have been simmering below the surface for some time.
The strain is coming from basic philosophical differences over economic rationale towards farming, which finally spilled into the public domain last week.
The motion was moved by former One Nation Party State president Ron McLean at a zone meeting in Lake Grace on Friday attended by about 80 farmers and other community members.
The motion said the meeting was, "appalled" with Mr Redman's "attitude" and "hereby move a motion of no confidence in the Minister".
It is understood only about half the meeting voted in favour of the motion but three opposed it.
A showdown is now expected with Mr Redman invited to a public community drought forum organised by WAFarmers for 2.30pm tomorrow at the Kulin Freebairn Recreation Centre.
WAFarmers Corrigin-Lake Grace Zone president Bob Iffla said Premier Colin Barnett, Federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig, Agricultural Region MLC Phil Gardiner and new O'Connor MHR Tony Crook had also been invited to the meeting.
Mr Iffla said farmers "have had enough" of Mr Redman and did not think he was "doing enough for them".
"The Minister's general attitude towards agriculture is not as good as it could be," he said.
"His lack of attention to a serious issue like drought is just not there and people are worried that he is not helping us with organising any kind of assistance to help put next year's crop in.
"The general feeling is he has a different attitude towards agriculture and seems to be an economic rationalist."
WAFarmers president Mike Norton attended all five meetings last week that saw an estimated 220 farmers turn up to meetings at Lake King, Hyden, Kondinin, Newdegate and Lake Grace.
The forums were part of a dry season initiative designed to gather first-hand views about the difficulties being experienced in the zone this year.
The meetings proposed other action items for Mr Redman to address, including the implementation of a Multi-Peril Crop Insurance (MPCI) scheme in time for next year's crop, water supplies, tax incentives and small business assistance.
Mr Norton said he met with Mr Redman bi-monthly and was due to meet with him today where he would provide a brief on current seasonal conditions and last week's meetings.
Despite that, he still expressed concerns about a general lack of consultation.
Mr Norton said there was a high degree of stress among farmers and anxiety about "where the season is taking them".
Speaking about the no-confidence motion, Mr Norton said Mr Redman doesn't listen.
He said Mr Redman also "doesn't want to do anything himself" and was waiting for other politicians to act first on MPCI.
"As the Agriculture Minister he should be showing leadership," Mr Norton said.
But in an area where Mr Redman has shown strong leadership, going out on a limb with the introduction of Genetically Modified crops, Mr Norton said the Minister had "got it wrong".
"Terry has his personal opinions and he wants to inflict them on everyone else," he said.
"He has a dry economic theory and a lot of farmers don't agree with him."
Mr Norton said the National Party needed to "deal with and confront the issue".
He said a lot of WA National Party members were also WAFarmers members.
Mr Norton also expressed concern the WA Nationals went to the 2008 State election short on agricultural policies.
"That's what their president Colin Holt admitted to us," he said.
"It's a real issue and something they need to fix sooner than later.
"Without those policies Terry has no over-riding instructions and is doing as he pleases and that's causing real problems.
"He only listens to certain people and doesn't listen to us much."
Mr Norton said WAFarmers had been "sidelined" on a number of key agricultural issues, putting MPCI and the Red Meat Round Table top of his list.
He said the round table and other committees were stacked with skills-based members appointed by Mr Redman but was worried they were "not answerable to anyone, to any great extent".
Mr Norton said the relationship between the farm lobby group and Mr Redman, was heading down the same path as its previous relationship with former State Agriculture Minister Monty House.
He said in time, Mr House became "very unpopular" for disagreeing with farmers.
"We have regular discussions with Terry but I get the feeling he doesn't really listen unless he can use the idea himself," he said.
"You have to take him on publicly and turn people against him to get anything done but that's not a productive way to run a Ministry.
"I wonder how much he is going to achieve when he has got everyone fighting against him."
Mr Norton said Mr Crook supported a Federal MPCI scheme, as did his predecessor Liberal Wilson Tuckey.
Mr Iffla said the seasonal concerns were mainly to do with declining equity levels and farming's future outlook, given that many had a tough time last season combined with high input costs and low grain prices.
He said some farmers had 80pc equity before last season but it dropped to 50pc due to last season's poor returns.
He warned if land prices went down due to farms flooding the market all at once, those equity levels could drop to "nothing".
"There are a lot of farmers who are very scared out there and it's very serious," he said.
"They need urgent assistance which is why they put in the motion of no confidence.
"They don't think Terry is doing enough but he could help with the financial issues by underwriting a MPCI.
"It could even come from Royalties for Regions and that would benefit everyone; even businesses are suffering a great deal and putting staff off."
In a brief statement Mr Redman said he was aware that a number of meetings were held in the Lake Grace and Corrigin area last week and he was aware of some of the issues raised at those meetings.
"For the past few months I have been meeting regularly with the banks, agricultural consultants, rural financial counsellors and many others," Mr Redman said.
"I've also travelled extensively through dry areas over the past weeks and months. The record low rainfall this winter has put many farmers under a lot of stress.
"I'm meeting with representatives of WAFarmers on Thursday (today) and I'm looking forward to having a constructive conversation about the challenges posed by the current dry season."
