mmg.com.au

Shepparton is one of only a handful of Australian locations chosen to host National Farmers’ Federation forums on developing a blueprint for Australian agriculture.

From this month, the federation will be collecting the views of Australia’s 140000 farmers and the wider supply chain in order to develop the Blueprint for Australian Agriculture.

Federation president Jock Laurie said the blueprint was designed to set the future direction for the farming sector by hearing from the farmers, transporters, processors, retailers, agriculture teachers, agronomists and small business owners — in short, anyone with a stake in Australian agriculture.

‘‘From today, we are now calling for your input into the blueprint development.’’

Participants can go to the federation website and fill in the online survey, talk to one of the 24 federation member organisations, or attend a blueprint session within their community and tell the federation what they want to see for the future of Australian agriculture.

Blueprint forums will be hosted by the federation and Westpac in Toowoomba, Perth, Darwin, Wagga Wagga, Shepparton, Adelaide and Tasmania between March and May.

Shepparton’s forum will be held on Wednesday, April 18 at 1pm at a location to be determined.

Mr Laurie said the blueprint was about coming together as an industry to identify the issues, challenges and opportunities for the future of the industry.

‘‘We want you to tell us what you believe the key issues are for your farms and businesses, and suggest potential solutions for the industry to tackle these issues head-on.

‘‘At the end of the process, we’ll be putting together a document that captures the collective view of all who took part.’’

This draft will then undergo a period of public consultation before it is presented to government in December.

For more details on the Blueprint for Australian Agriculture, visit www.nff.org.au/blueprint or phone (02) 62695666.