VFF court case: Grain growers lose bid to call EGM to oust leaders

A bid to hold a vote to oust the Victorian Farmers Federation’s president and vice-president has been dismissed.

Grain growers, led by Andrew Weidemann, have lost their bid to hold and EGM to vote on ousting VFF leaders. Photo: Dannika Bonser

Grain growers have lost their Federal Court bid to call an extraordinary general meeting to allow members to vote on ousting Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano and vice-president Danyel Cucinotta.

The court ruled against the growers, led by former VFF Grains Group presidents Andrew Weidemann, Brett Hosking and Ashley Fraser, who had gathered the signatures of 225 farmers calling for an EGM.

Mr Weidemann said “it’s disappointing, but expected”.

He said the growers would make a statement tomorrow, after lawyers had gone through details of the court’s decision.

“(But) we’re not finished, as there’s more to come,” Mr Weidemann said.

A VFF spokesman said the board was also wading through the judgement, before making any statement.

The call for an EGM arose out of member anger and frustration with current VFF leaders’ decisions, such as cashing out the Grain Group’s $9.7 million deed poll fund to pay off borrowings, cutting commodity staffing, taking legal action against dairy farmer members and failing to engage with the wider membership.

Frustration with Ms Germano and the VFF board also led to board resignations and the formation of a breakaway dairy group in July – Dairy Farmers Victoria, led by industry leader Mark Billing.

Dairy farmers who remained within the federation as members of its United Dairyfarmers of Victoria arm have said they were angered by the VFF’s refusal to direct a share of their levy contributions to the Australian Dairy Farmers peak body.

Last month the VFF board decided to pull the UDV’s nomination of eight Victorians to the ADF’s 15-member national council.

The VFF owes ADF at least $344,000 in unpaid subscriptions, but has refused to pay, arguing Victorian dairy farmers were not getting value for money.

The move follows almost two years’ of conflict, starting with the VFF’s chicken meat group’s largest growers, representing 70 per cent of the state’s production, abandoning the federation to form their own state body.

The Victorian Farmers Federation annual reports show it lost 884 members between September 2021 and September 2022.

Membership figures for the most recent year will be revealed in the VFF’s next annual report, due to be released within the next few weeks.