BRETT Hosking has become the third Loddon farmer in 30 years to be elected leader of Victoria’s peak farming organisation.
Mr Hosking, a mixed farmer based at Quambatook, won the Victorian Farmers’ Federation election last month.
Victory to the former grains council chairman and high-profile industry leader comes as the VFF has battled through a tumultuous period that saw board resignations, legal challenges and growing disquiet with retiring president Emma Germano.
Mr Hosking’s election has him pledging to tackle key issues facing farmers.
He follows in the footsteps of Boort tomato grower and now veteran Murray Plains MP Peter Walsh who was VFF president for four years until elected to State Parliament in 2002 and Terrick Terrick’s Peter Tuohey, president until 2016 and now Victoria’s Rural Assistance Commissioner and chairman of the Melbourne Market Authority,
Mr Hosking said: “First, I would like to thank the many producers across our great state for their support and their confidence that I will be able to make a difference as their voice and their representative.
“We are all aware of the challenges facing our industry – Canberra’s latest decision to unilaterally end the live sheep trade is classic example of the pressures we face in the political sphere on top of farming’s demands in paddocks,” he said.
“That is an urgent issue I am sure the National Farmers’ Federation and other state organisations are taking on as well.
“And because right now the only thing Victorian farmers have is a voice in the wilderness – and you don’t get heard from there – as president, it will be my priority to put our agriculture industry back on the national stage, where it belongs.
“The big decisions which have the most immediate impact on the bottom lines of our farmers are made in Canberra, that’s where the big bucks come from.
“Think fuel rebates, trade markets, levies and biosecurity – those are all crucial and they are all Federal Government decisions, and if we are not there when the NFF is representing farmers, we are nowhere.”
Peter Star – who has been the VFF Livestock vice-president since 2022 – was elected Mr Hosking’s deputy in last month’s ballot of members.
Outgoing vice-president, Danyel Cucinotta, was the losing candidate for the top job.
Strongly campaigning to “return the voice of Victorian farmers to the big table” Mr Hosking said he believed the VFF has marginalised its potential by pulling out of the National Farmers’ Federation and all key peak industry bodies. He said: “You’ve got to get back in the game if you are serious about the long-term future of the industry”.
Mr Hosking is a fifth-generation farmer is a former VFF vice-president and grains group president, was chairman of GrainGrowers for four years and a director for seven. He is also a director of Birchip Cropping Group and of the national organisation Farmers for Climate Action.
When accepting the FCA role its chairman Charlie Prell said the organisation was “thrilled to have someone of the calibre of Mr Hosking join our board”.
“Brett Hosking has an incredible history in farm representation and is well known in farm circles for his honesty, integrity and straight talking. As FCA’s membership and influence continues to grow, Brett Hosking is just the sort of person who will help take us forward,” he said.
Mr Star is a livestock farmer from Tallangatta in Victoria’s northeast and is also the current VFF representative to the national wild dog action plan stakeholder consultative group.
Mr Hosking said harvest had once again shown roads are a massive and ongoing issue and not enough rail options, causing pinch points at major crossings and intersections.
“Then there is the soaring cost of power, the rights of farmers over their own property after the Allan Labor government stripped us all of the right of appeal to VCAT when groups such as VNI West want to come marching onto your property.
“And look at the CFA, our incredible volunteer organisation which is meant to be getting a lot of the funding it needs via the fire services levy and that’s just been sucked into a new multi-organisation funding model and I’m pretty sure we are getting badly short-changed.
“I doubt the people of Gippsland would want to think their frontline defenders aren’t getting what they need.
“That’s why I stood for VFF president – this is your land, my land, and we all need to have a say about what’s going on here.”