View our varied advocacy items and submission below or view our policy developments.
Farmers Should be Farming, Not Filling in Forms
Bundaberg Ag-Food & Fibre Alliance (BAFFA) aims to identify, research, consult and solve challenges facing the Bundaberg primary production sector. We recognise the need for a united primary production industry across food, renewable fuel, fish, forestry, foliage and fibre sectors in the Bundaberg region to secure the long-term interests of our members and our industry.
The Bundaberg Regional Council area is predominantly rural, land is used largely for intensive irrigated agriculture and horticulture, notably macadamias, sugar cane, fruit and vegetable growing, and some cattle grazing. This reliance on agribusiness means that any negative impact on our farmers’ ability to generate and market the crops and products they produce has a much greater impact on our community than in other areas.
BAFFA welcomes Senator Susan McDonald’s call for real-world examples of red tape. Modern farming requires adaptability, innovation and farmers being out in the paddock. Instead, growers are increasingly bogged down by duplicative, overly complex, and ill-fitting regulatory frameworks that directly harm farm viability and productivity.
National Renewable Gas Policy Consultation
Bundaberg Ag-Food & Fibre Alliance (BAFFA) aims to identify, research, consult and solve challenges facing the Bundaberg primary production sector.
We recognise the need for a united primary production industry across food, renewable fuel, fish, forestry, foliage and fibre sectors in the Bundaberg region to secure the long-term interests of our members and our industry. Thank you to the Energy and Climate Change Ministerial Council and the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (the Department) for the opportunity to respond to the National Renewable Gas Policy Consultation Paper.
BAFFA supports a national renewable gas policy that increases renewable natural gas supply, reduces avoidable project costs and creates the long-term demand required to support investment.
Statutory review of the regulated standards under the Reef protection regulations
Bundaberg Ag-Food & Fibre Alliance (BAFFA) aims to identify, research, consult and solve challenges facing the Bundaberg primary production sector.
We recognise the need for a united primary production industry across food, renewable fuel, fish, forestry, foliage and fibre sectors in the Bundaberg region to secure the long-term interests of our members and our industry. BAFFA welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Statutory review of the regulated standards under the Reef protection regulations and offer the following comments.
The current regulatory framework is fundamentally unsuitable for the diverse, multispecies integrated farming systems prevalent in the Bundaberg region. Our region cultivates over 124 different crops, often in rapid succession within the same paddocks. For example, a single paddock might transition from sugarcane in July to watermelons in August, then tomatoes in March, back to watermelons in August, and finally to sugarcane the following February. This raises critical questions: Is this a regulated sugarcane paddock or an unregulated horticultural paddock? The regulations fail to provide clarity, are difficult to understand, and thus cannot effectively or fairly be applied to such dynamic and integrated systems...
Submission regarding the Primary Industries Prosper 2050 Consultation Draft
BAFFA welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Primary Industries Prosper 2050 Consultation Draft with a focus on strengthening protections for Queensland's farmers and ensuring the blueprint's continued impact over its planned 25-year timeframe. We commend the Queensland Government's initiative in developing this long-term strategy and offer the following comments.
Letter to Minister Last
Bundaberg Ag-Food & Fibre Alliance (BAFFA) aims to identify, research, consult and solve the challenges facing the Bundaberg primary production sector.
Our vision is a united food, fibre, renewable fuel, fishing, forestry, and foliage sectors in the Bundaberg region.
Our vision does not include a coal mine.
Submission to Bundaberg Regional Council Planning Scheme Policy for Agricultural Buffers
BAFFA welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Bundaberg Regional Council Planning Scheme Policy for Agricultural Buffers.
We provide this submission without prejudice to any additional submission/s from our members or individual farmers and are primarily focused on potential impacts to primary producers.
Our comments are included in the attached submission.
Submission to Burnett Basin water plan review - June 2024
This is a properly made submission from the Bundaberg Ag-Food and Fibre Alliance (BAFFA), in response to the Preliminary public consultation notice on the proposed replacement of the Water Pan (Burnett Basin) 2014 – s44 of the Water Act 2000.
The Water Act requires that Water Planning balances economic, social and ecological outcomes.
In the Bundaberg Region, agricultural businesses and the processing industries that support them, have based long term investment decisions on the water reliability and water sharing arrangements embedded in the current Water Plan. As such, it is essential that as the Water Plan is renewed that the Department engage actively with water users and the Bundaberg Ag-Food and Fibre Alliance on the plan renewal and make appropriate policy decisions to support industries water reliability and existing water access.
The dam safety issues and infrastructure works at Paradise Dam have created a deal of uncertainty for the agricultural industry in the region and as such it is essential that the renewal of the Burnett Water Plan is undertaken in a way to support the region and minimise investment uncertainty.
Submission to the Inquiry into the impact of Climate Change on Queensland agricultural production
Bundaberg Ag-Food & Fibre Alliance provides a united voice for primary producers in the Bundaberg region and works toward securing the long-term interests of our members and our industry. This submission focuses on growers who predominantly produce sugar cane and other crops in the greater Bundaberg region and provides feedback to the inquiry into the impact of Climate Change on Queensland agricultural production on issues relevant to the local experiences of primary producers in the greater Bundaberg region and serves to represent their interests.
The terms of reference are for the committee to inquire into and report to the Queensland Legislative Assembly on:
a) the impacts of climate change and climate variability on Queensland agricultural production and the existing and potential future risks of climate change on the sector.
b) opportunities for the Queensland Government to create and support resilience, adaptation and mitigation measures in preparing the agricultural sector for future climate change.
Submission to Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro Project
BAFFA welcomes the opportunity to provide comment on the Mt Rawdon Pumped Hydro Project.
We provide this submission without prejudice to any additional submission/s from our members or individual farmers and are primarily focused on potential yield implications on Paradise Dam and negative impacts on Medium Priority allocation holders in the Bundaberg Irrigation area and the potential for increases in mineral salt loads in downstream areas should there be a discharge.Submission to Queensland Resources Industry Development Plan
The Bundaberg Regional Council area is predominantly rural, with a large township at Bundaberg, and small towns and villages at Bargara, Burnett Heads, Childers, Coral Cove, Elliott Heads, Gin Gin, Innes Park, Moore Park Beach and Woodgate. Rural land is used largely for forestry, agriculture and horticulture, notably macadamias, sugar cane, fruit and vegetable growing, and cattle grazing.
Tourism is also an important industry, particularly along the coast, with the area being the southern gateway to the Great Barrier Reef. The Bundaberg Regional Council area encompasses a total land area of approximately 6,450 square kilometres.
In terms of gross value added, employment and business numbers, the Bundaberg local government area has a much greater reliance on agriculture (approx 13 per cent) than Queensland as a whole (approx 3.4 per cent).
In comparison, mining and resources account for less than 1% of the Bundaberg Regional Council.
This reliance on agribusiness means that any negative impact on our farmers’ ability to generate and market the crops and products they produce has a much greater impact on our community than in other areas.
Policy
Our policies include:
- The security and reliability of water
- Energy costs
- Input costs
- The right to farm
- Rates & unfair Local Government imposts
- Regulation
- Insurance
- Due diligence