A push for farmers to oppose new renewable solar and wind projects in NSW has been quashed, while a bounty on feral pigs has also been rejected.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Farmers and industry leaders from across the state descended on Sydney on Tuesday for the annual NSW Farmers conference, where the topics of energy transition and future food production are on the table.
A motion for a moratorium on industrial scale wind and solar developments in NSW did not pass and instead was sent to one of the association's committees to be reviewed.
Those in favour of the moratorium said there was a lack of transparency and safety concerns around projects, arguing they were only calling for a temporary halt.
There had been little transparency and consultation on the environmental impacts of large-scale renewable developments, Guyra farmer James Jackson said.
"This is a rolling mess and a moratorium from this organisation ... will give our key spokespeople a really good opportunity to talk on the angst in the community," he said.
Others argued the motion was based on ideology and renewable projects were critical for the nation's future power supply.
NSW had the slowest project planning approvals in Australia, while experts said the state would need more than double its current electricity supply by 2025, Walcha farmer Warwick Fletcher said.
"The crux of the matter is we need electricity ... the more you have, the cheaper it is," he said.
A motion to implement a $20-per-head feral pig bounty also failed.
NSW Farmers will instead call for more resources and funding from the state government for research into biological pig controls and support for landowners.
Current controls, including poisoning, trapping and shooting, have not changed since the 1960s and farmers were now looking for novel ways to reduce pig numbers, the conference heard.
Coolah farmer Tom Dunlop has been a livestock and crop farmer for more than 27 years but his business has suffered as feral pig numbers explode and hoards of the pests invade his farmlands, bringing destruction and diseases.
"They will come from surrounding hills and they'll travel basically 27km or more to get to a sorghum crop, and they just love it," he told AAP.
Mr Dunlop experienced his worst sorghum crop loss in 2022 when an estimated 350 tonnes was destroyed by feral pigs, costing him more than $80,000 in damage on top of further destruction of his grain crop.
"During the drought, we weren't seeing pigs but since we've had those three wet years, they've just exploded (in numbers) and bred quickly out of control," he said.
Mr Dunlop traps and shoots an average 50 pigs per week, while his neighbours send up helicopters monthly at a cost of $1600 an hour, but their attempts have been ineffective in controlling numbers.
Premier Chris Minns and his agriculture and energy and environment ministers will address the conference on Wednesday.
Australian Associated Press
