AgForce Cattle, the cattle arm of the Queensland farm group AgForce, has come out in support of raising Australia's cattle transaction levy by $1, in a column published by Beef Central. The views are AgForce Cattle's own. The levy has stayed at $5 a head for around 20 years, the column says.
The proposal is a resolution that Cattle Australia will put to the coming annual general meeting of Meat & Livestock Australia (MLA), following an independent review of the levy. AgForce Cattle says the review committee was thorough and that Cattle Australia weighed its findings carefully before recommending the increase.
The column accepts that no producer wants another cost at a time when expenses are rising across the business, but argues the industry needs the money to keep promoting Australian beef, to invest in research and development and to protect itself in future. In return, it says, producers are entitled to more transparency on how levy money is spent and what value it brings, and that accountability is critical to their confidence in the system.
The levy was debated at AgForce Cattle's All About Beef event in Cloncurry earlier in the month, which drew more than 200 producers. Speakers included the meat and livestock analyst Simon Quilty, MLA managing director Michael Crowley and Cattle Australia chief executive Will Evans, who presented the levy review. AgForce says it will hold a webinar before the MLA meeting and urges every producer to understand the proposal and vote: "It is our levy and our industry."
The column also reminds producers of their biosecurity duties when moving cattle. Even where it is legal to move tick-infested cattle within the cattle tick infested zone, taking them onto properties that have been largely free of ticks can bring problems including tick fever, so precautions before a move protect the producer's own herd, the neighbours and the wider industry.
Photo: State Library of Queensland / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)
Source: Beef Central
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