Earlier this week we finally saw a breakthrough in the border closure deadlock, with the New South Wales Government announcing farmer permits to help ensure the movement of people and products into parts of NSW.
It comes after the Victorian Farmers Federation and Australia's other farming groups have been holding emergency talks daily to discuss the impacts of border restrictions on agriculture and our critical supply chains.
While this is a common-sense decision that will help ensure farmers are able to do their jobs and feed the nation, it is a step in the right direction towards keeping agriculture open and operating.
Of course, we will continue to monitor the impact of these new border rules on the farming community - especially with the need for contract harvesters and other contractors needing to travel beyond the allowable 100 kilometres inside the NSW border.
If anything, the farmer permit introduced for the NSW-Victoria border sets an example of how critical agriculture can be maintained in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic restrictions - and now needs to be adopted for the South Australia-Victoria border.
The VFF will continue to discuss the border closure with both the Victorian and Federal Agriculture Ministers and seek a solution as it's likely we'll encounter the same issues we had in NSW.
In the end, it all comes down to farmers being able to continue on feeding the nation because we don't just farm for our respective states, we farm for Australia and that's something the VFF will continue to fight to protect.
