Ms Tyrrell has been told how cost of living pressures and the steep price of keeping businesses afloat were driving primary producers to the brink of losing everything.
One dairy farmer said his industry was “being crushed by government policy”.
“He said 30 per cent of product usage was from NZ and America because the costs to produce it here are too high when the export price drops,” Ms Tyrrell said.
“Dairy farmers fear the industry will continue to shrink if changes are not made to reduce the cost of water, labour, energy fuel and fertiliser.”
She said government charges and fees, and the prospect of further interest rate increases, was only compounding the anxiety of Australia’s agriculture industry.
Ms Tyrrell wanted to highlight calls to cap interest rates for primary producers and greater flexibility for their tax deductions.
One dairy farmer revealed to Ms Tyrrell that solar power was not delivering on the value promised by governments.
“We spent $16,000 putting a system in place and now they are paying us one cent per kilowatt for the power which destroys the payback,” the farmer said.
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