Keith Campbell - Committee Member

As a former Mayor of the South Burnett Regional Council and a long-standing participant in the agricultural industry, I have seen firsthand the critical role that farming plays in sustaining the economic and social fabric of our regional communities. I have also observed how quickly that fabric begins to fray when farm viability comes under pressure. In this context, the Forum will use the deterioration in peanut production as a case study to frame broader discussion.

Across all our regions and industry sectors, many producers are facing a sustained period of low profitability created by increasing costs and diminishing returns. Some of these poor returns are driven by low commodity prices, increasingly influenced by imported products competing in our domestic market. These imports often operate under different cost structures and regulatory environments, placing local producers at a structural disadvantage. In too many cases, farmers supplying domestic markets are facing an increasing cost-price squeeze created in part by ruthless techniques employed by the supermarkets.

This is not simply an agricultural issue. When farm profitability declines, the effects are felt across the entire community—through reduced local spending, pressure on small businesses, declining investment, and ultimately impacts on local government revenue and service demand.

The purpose of this Forum is threefold:

• To provide a clear and practical overview of the current challenges affecting farm viability, particularly the impact of low commodity prices, supermarket behaviour and imports;

• To provide an opportunity for community leaders, including local governments, to consider what role they can play in supporting stronger, more resilient agricultural businesses within their regions; and

• To contribute to the development of a forward strategy.

While global markets are beyond our control, there are meaningful and practical steps that communities can take to bolster their economic futures. These include policies and planning frameworks that support local agricultural producers and coordinated advocacy through the Local Government Association of Queensland to State and Federal governments.

This Forum is not about raising problems without solutions.

Rather, it is about identifying realistic, locally driven actions that can help sustain the industries underpinning our regional economies. However, I want to be clear, the forum will not provide all the answers, but without a strong understanding of the challenges, we can’t strengthen our farming regions.

Judy Plath - Committee Member

Motivated by the devastating news of the closure of the Peanut Company of Australia facility in Kingaroy last year, Ag Horizons was formed by farmers and community leaders who love agriculture, love regional communities and no longer want to stand by and watch our industries die before their eyes.

The Ag Horizons Forum Committee are deeply concerned that the lack of profitability in many Australian agricultural industries, driven by high operating costs, low prices, unscrupulous supermarket behaviour and competition from imports, is driving many farming families to the brink and causing economic decline in the regional communities that rely on agriculture.

Some of our group have spoken out in the media to draw attention to various issues affecting agriculture and have recently decided that a forum bringing together farmers, their families, and regional communities to share ideas and drive practical solutions that strengthen farm businesses would be a positive next step to revitalising regional economies.

Judy Plath is a member of a farming family in the Bundaberg region and is a passionate advocate for farmers being treated fairly, the importance of water security for her region and regional communities.

Peter Howlett is a third generation farmer in the Kumbia region, near Kingaroy. Peter and his family have watched many agricultural industries in his region come and go and is fed up with farmers not being suitably rewarded for their hard work and risk.

Peter Howlett - Committee Member

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Tim Sayre - Committee Member

Contact

Email:-

info@aghorizonsforum.com.au

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