Through the week the federal Nationals announced a plan to support the agriculture, forestry and fishing industries to create more jobs in regional Australia.
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Our government has been steadfast in its commitment to support our farmers through the toughest of times - drought, floods and market disruptions.
We have also actively pursued new and improved trade and market access for the benefit of agricultural producers and exporters.
The Nationals make no bones about fighting for these industries located in regional Australia, employing hundreds of thousands of Australians across the country.
We know small business in these sectors provide more than 80 per cent of the total employment.
Our plan delivers better opportunities to sell more Australian food and fibre overseas. It ensures the industry has access to more financing options and protection from anti-farming activists.
Our plan for a stronger agricultural sector includes: Protecting farmers from extreme anti-farming activists through new privacy laws; and a new criminal offence for inciting trespass to do commercial detriment;
Growing our investment through our $6.3 billion drought package, including the establishment of the Future Drought Fund and a new restocking and replanting loan facility;
Taking our kids to farms and bringing farms to kids through a $10 million Educating our Kids about Agriculture Program;
Developing and trialing a new $34 million Agricultural Stewardship Program and an Australian Farm Biodiversity Certification Scheme;
Enabling farmers to purchase their first farm through Agristarte" loans;
Investing an additional $10 million to support council led efforts in drought affected areas to combat pests and weeds;
Promote the importance of bees to the entire value chain with a $1.5 million investment to increase understanding and incentive actions to protect our pollinators;
Accelerating horticulture market access and developing a 2030 protected horticulture strategy;
Establishing a National Agricultural Labour Advisory Committee advise government on farm labour and agriculture sector workforce challenges and solutions;
Implementing a Dairy Mandatory Code of Conduct and providing funding to Australian Dairy Farmers to investigate alternative milk marketing tools to increase price transparency;
Supporting regional communities with a $20 million Regional Agricultural Shows Development Program.
We are proudly backing our regional primary producers who are responsible for more than 70 per cent of our exports and help sustain our standard of living.