Grains growers vote to strip VFF of $200,000-plus in levies

Victorian grain growers have voted to strip the VFF of more than $200,000 in levies, redirecting the funds into a new quarantined advocacy fund.

Rupanyup grain grower Andrew Weidemann said frustration with the Victorian Farmers Federation has led growers to re-direct their levies to a fund they control.

Grain growers have voted to strip the Victorian Farmers Federation of more than $200,000 in levies, redirecting the money to a new advocacy fund under their control.

Growers attending the VFF Grains Group’s annual general meeting in Horsham this week backed a resolution, put forward by former president Andrew Weidemann, to divert their levies into a new Victorian Grain Industry Advocacy Fund.

Mr Weidemann said the VFF’s decision to move to a flat membership fee structure, meant the additional funds collected through the grain levy were simply “going into the general revenue of the VFF”.

He and other growers said they backed the move, after VFF cuts to grains staff and resourcing, as well as a lack of transparency on how much was being collected in levies and where it was being spent.

Mr Weidemann said the National Grower Register form would be amended to include a new option for growers to redirect their levies to the new Victorian Grain Industry Advocacy Fund, as part of their annual NGR renewal.

Grain marketers would then direct payments based on each grower’s NGR form.

Just how many growers are willing to redirect their levy contributions to the new fund remains unknown, but current Grains Group president Craig Henderson said “hopefully quite a few”.

Mr Henderson said the new fund would revive grains advocacy, which had been neglected by the VFF, investing in issues ranging from state regulations on autonomous vehicles to GM and right to repair.

The move is set to further undermine the VFF’s finances, having already lost $526,000 in membership income, in the form of farmer subscriptions, levies and industrial relations services and handbook sales, over the past two years.

VFF president Emma Germano did not respond to requests for comment.