Survey reveals huge spending gap on eID traceability

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NSW Farmers is calling for a substantial investment from State and Federal governments to make their electronic identification (eID) traceability reforms achievable.

NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said a move to eID for sheep and goats will far exceed the $20 million offered by the Federal Government and, with a timeline set for mandatory tagging, farmers are in the dark on what financial support will be made available.

Mr Martin said with 80 per cent of NSW sheep and goat producers not using eID at present, there would need to be significant State and Federal financial assistance to assist in the transition.

“Farmers are rightly becoming increasingly concerned about the costs associated with implementing eID for sheep and goats, following

Minister Saunders’ mandating of the traceability system last year,” Mr Martin said.

“While the NSW Government’s timeline is public, it remains unknown what financial support will be made available to farmers so they can implement eID as they are now required to do.

“We asked farmers how much this will cost them and what training, education and support they need, and it’s clear both levels of government will need to open their wallets.”

NSW Agriculture Minister Dugald Saunders announced the state would join a national traceability effort in July 2022 following an outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease (FMD) in Indonesia.

Under the National Livestock Identification System, sheep and farmed goats born after

January 2025 will require an electronic tag before leaving a property, and from January 2027 all farmed sheep and goats will require an eID tag.

The Federal Government announced $20.1 million over three years to help the states transition to mandatory electronic tags, but Mr Martin said that sum was nowhere near enough as it had to be shared between all states and territories.

“There will potentially be less than $10 million from the Commonwealth to support NSW producers, and Commonwealth funds are dependent on a NSW Government co-contribute, so our state will also need to make a substantial investment,” Mr Martin said.

“But there’s been no funding clarity, and producers are rightly concerned about what financial support will be made available to help them meet the government’s timeline.

“People want to be able to make business decisions – some producers are already transitioning hoping to receive some support – so they need to know how financial assistance will be provided and how much it will be.”

Mr Martin said moving to eID will be a very costly exercise as the equipment producers will need to purchase can range from a couple of thousand dollars for a wand reader, to tens of thousands of dollars for eID drafters.

“Data from eID users reveals there is a significant cost in infrastructure modifications to pens, races and yards to install eID technology. Users of eID reported their costs ranged from $40,000 to $70,000 and, with 66 per cent of producers surveyed saying they will need to modify infrastructure on their farms, the costs of the total rollout are going to be significant even before the cost of tags and readers are taken into account,” Mr Martin said.

“Producers want certainty that NLIS eID tags will be affordable not just now, but well into the future, and there is a growing concern about increased tag and NLIS device costs.

“Governments must play their part in supporting economically-affordable NLIS devices, and the move to eID can’t progress until farmers get the financial assistance they need.”

State Member for Barwon, Roy Butler said many Barwon landholders have questions about the system, some of which were raised at a meeting of more than 100 pastoralists in Broken Hill last week. The meeting was requested by the Pastoralists’ of Western Darling to hear the Agriculture Minister and Senior Government Officials explain why NSW is moving towards mandatory sheep and goat eID.

“When asked for a “show of hands” from producers in the Far West –“Who is in support of the mandatory rollout of eID in the goat and sheep industry?” there was no movement detected in the room,” Mr Butler said.

“After presentations and an opportunity for many questions, the lack of support was still evident.

“A hybrid model suggestion from the floor was met with some support,” he said.

“It was clarified that the harvested rangeland goat tag free movement option, will be retained under the current rules.

“Sheep and farmed goats that require a visual tag now will require an eID tag in the future.

“Many questions were asked about; costs to producers for tags, reading infrastructure, compliance with current NLIS by all stakeholders, the state’s cost benefit analysis for eNVD, options for an assistance package for producers to implement, traceability, feral pig populations and the reduction of risk for FMD and lumpy skin disease,” Mr Butler said.

• Congratulations to Isla McKervey who won the M. Dane book giveaway competition. We’re just waiting for it to arrive in the post to make the presentation to Isla.

• Cobar High School had a visit last week from Aurelia Metals’ Scott Munro and Tom Watson along with Philip Gilmore from the Teacher Earth Science Education Program who talked about science topics, showed some videos and took along samples of different rocks from the Cobar area.

• Cobar Auto Port is once again in the Shell spotlight with employee Tracey Fazulla in the running to win the Customer Service Champion award in the Shell PMTDR Program. Tracey is one of three finalists who will head to Perth next month for judging. If Tracey wins, she’ll go on to the national judging in Budapest later in the year! It wouldn’t be the first time one of the Cobar Auto Port console operators has won this award as Cathy Manns was named the Customer Service operator in 2016 and earned herself a trip to Dubai.

• Talking of winning awards, David Russell has once again been named the Nutrien Harcourts Top Sales Consultant for the quarter!

• Cobar connection, Reba Scott, daughter of former Cobar residents Craig and Carrie Scott (and Barry Knight’s granddaughter) is competing in Melbourne this week as a finalist in the Proud to be a Chef 23 competition.

• It was great to see a packed St Paul’s Church on Saturday to welcome Cobar’s new Anglican minister, Reverend James Daymond and his wife Brittany (who is also a new teacher at the high school) to the community.

February 2023

23 Cobar Shire Council Ordinary Meeting

March 2023

1 Cobar Darts Association AGM

5 Cobar RSL Sub-Branch AGM

11 WOW Week of Women events