Agriculture Victoria job cuts may mean less research duplication

That's according to Victorian Farmers Federation president Emma Germano, who said the impact of cutting the 109 jobs, from the 1200 strong workforce, may not be as bad as first thought.

"I don't think it's the place of AgVic to be trying to do research where we have these R&D corporations who are tasked with that - and they do a good job," Ms Germano said.

"Recreating some of that research within the state is unnecessary because it's just us paying for it twice."

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Ms Germano said another example of duplication was climate research.

But she said there were real concerns about biosecurity, pest and disease management.

"That is absolutely the job of the state - and we are seeing weed management has fallen by the wayside already," she said.

She said producers wanted to know what AgVic was doing about pests such as Wheel Cactus and other imported weeds.

The cuts had occurred when there had been an explosion in other parts of the public service, she said.

But south-west Victorian livestock producer Georgina Gubbins said the staff cuts were very "short sighted" for an industry that had helped prop up the economy during the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's an industry that should continue to be supported because it is behind the very basics of the economy," Ms Gubbins said.

She said strings were often attached to advice and support given by private industry.

"There is a new generation of farmers coming through and they need this independent information, as they can be swayed by marketing," she said.

Some private companies had a conflict of interest, as their links with manufacturers required them to sell agricultural products.

The state government is seeking to find $33 million in the four years to 2023-24, with the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) saying AgVic was the hardest hit, as it was one of the biggest departments.

Negotiations, between the CPSU and AgVic, on the proposed cuts to positions and a restructuring of the department are currently underway.

AgVic has told the CPSU the proposed changes "reflect a strategic focus on research and innovation capabilities and associated key research activities that focus on agriculture productivity outcomes, climate change adaptation and emissions mitigation, and biosecurity outcomes".

Among the positions to be cut are those in the microbial, sciences, pests and diseases unit, for plant industries, which were "not sufficiently co-invested and/or supported by industry".

In the document provided to the union, AgVic says seven existing positions and five vacant posts in the unit are to be abolished.

They include positions in the invertebrate and weed sciences team and plant pathology.

It was also proposed to reduce the number of positions in red meat production systems, red meat quality, pasture agronomy for extensive livestock and irrigated systems research and innovation.

The department has proposed 20 occupied positions are to be abolished - 14 positions in the Feedbase team and six positions in the Animal Nutrition and Performance team, that includes nine in lamb production and seven in dairy.

CPSU media and communications manager Julian Kennelly said AgVic was an agency where skills lost would not be easily replaced.

"With AgVic losing capability then farming communities have nowhere independent to go and are forced towards private corporations where research is profit focused," Mr Kennelly said.

He said most of the departmental staff would be redeployed within the public service.

"But a lot of them will get sucked into the big agribusinesses, or consult and charge three times as much for their services," he said.

"AgVic bore the brunt of the early retirements mostly, says the department, because of its older age profile, but this should have been adjusted for because the skills are specific to the research stream being undertaken.

"Over a thousand years of corporate knowledge walked out the door and the department is now scrambling with science policy (or lack thereof) and planning."

AgVic has advised it's proposing to abolish 16 existing and 10 vacant positions in the Landscape and Water Sciences team.

"The need for rigorous science policy is obvious and it seems to make little sense that the Victorian community will be losing valuable research into soils and other areas with a view to mitigating the impacts of climate change and its effects on food production," Mr Kennelly said.