Farming

Where we stand

One Nation Tasmania believes food security is national security. Farmers — not bureaucrats, activists, banks or multinational corporations — should make the decisions that determine how our land is used and how our food is produced. Productive farmland and agricultural water are strategic assets that must be protected for future generations.

We believe in property rights, free enterprise and practical stewardship. Farmers know their land. Regulation should deal with genuine risks, not bury family farms and small producers in rules designed for major corporations. Farmers should be free to choose the methods that work for their land, animals and business without government forcing political ideology, emissions mandates or unnecessary corporate reporting burdens through the farm gate.

Tasmania must keep more of the value it creates. Our farmers deserve fair access to markets, strong local processing, reliable irrigation and freight, world-class biosecurity and a genuine opportunity to hand viable farms to the next generation. Government should protect the foundations of production, enforce fair rules and then get out of the way.

The issues

Tasmania has everything it needs to be an agricultural powerhouse, but the people producing our food are being squeezed from every direction. NRE Tasmania's latest Agri-Food ScoreCard reported that the gross farm-gate value of Tasmanian agriculture reached $2.83 billion in 2023–24, up 15 per cent in a single year. Yet rising costs, freight disadvantage, processing constraints and overregulation are making it harder for family farms and smaller producers to remain viable.

Control over the land and the market is also moving further away from the people who actually produce the food. The Australian Government's 2024–25 Register of Foreign Ownership recorded a foreign interest in 24.1 per cent of Tasmania's agricultural land, around 362,000 hectares. At the other end of the supply chain, the ACCC's Supermarkets Inquiry found that Coles and Woolworths account for around 67 per cent of supermarket sales nationally, leaving farmers selling into one of the most concentrated grocery markets in the country.

Tasmania's farmers have spent a generation learning how to reduce chemical and fertiliser use while increasing quality and yield, and yet they are still being demonised as environmental vandals. Farmers are the best stewards of their land and deserve respect for their success.

Tasmania cannot produce world-class food while making it harder for the people who grow it to own land, process locally, receive a fair return or pass a viable farm to the next generation. When farming becomes harder, regional jobs disappear, food security weakens and more of the value created by Tasmanians leaves Tasmania.

Our priorities

1. Protect productive farmland and water. Keep Tasmania's best agricultural land and water available for food production, not incompatible development, speculative ownership and decisions that permanently reduce our productive capacity.
2. Keep Tasmanian farming in Australian hands. Strengthen scrutiny of foreign ownership and ensure Tasmania's agricultural land is treated as a strategic asset, not simply another commodity for overseas investors and investment funds.
3. Cut red tape and defend the right to farm. Replace one-size-fits-all regulation with practical, risk-based rules, protect lawful farming activity and make it easier for family farms and small producers to start, operate, sell directly and grow.
4. Put food production ahead of climate ideology. Protect farmers. Scrap emissions mandates, reporting burdens and land-use policies that increase costs, dictate farming practices or sacrifice productive agriculture to meet political climate targets.
5. Process more Tasmanian food in Tasmania. Rebuild local and regional processing and value-adding capacity so more Tasmanian livestock and produce are processed here, creating jobs and keeping more of the value in our communities.
6. Fight for a fair deal for Tasmanian producers. Challenge anti-competitive behaviour in agricultural supply chains, strengthen genuine Tasmanian provenance and give local producers a better opportunity to supply Tasmanian consumers and government.
7. Secure the foundations of farming. Prioritise irrigation, affordable and reliable energy, freight, farm inputs, rural roads, telecommunications and strong biosecurity as essential economic infrastructure for a productive agricultural state.
8. Back the next generation of Tasmanian farmers. Remove unnecessary barriers to entering agriculture, strengthen practical training and succession pathways and make it easier for young Tasmanians to build a future on the land.

What this means for Tasmanians

For farmers: greater certainty, less unnecessary interference and a government that treats food production as an essential industry rather than another sector to regulate.

For small producers and new farmers: fewer barriers to getting started, selling what you produce and building a viable agricultural business.

For Tasmanian families: stronger local food security and more of the food produced in Tasmania processed, sold and available here.

For regional workers and businesses: more processing, value-adding, investment and skilled jobs staying in regional Tasmania.

For the next generation: a farming sector worth entering, with productive land protected and family farms given a fighting chance to remain in family hands.

Tasmania should be a state where farmers are free to farm, productive land stays productive and more of the value created on our farms stays right here in Tasmania. Farmers first. Food security first. Tasmania first.

What comes next

This baseline policy sets out where One Nation Tasmania stands on farming and the priorities that will guide our detailed policy work.

We will develop specific commitments through consultation with farmers, growers, livestock producers, small food businesses, processors, rural communities and people with practical experience of Tasmania's agricultural system. Further policy releases will follow as this work progresses.

If you work the land, produce or process Tasmanian food, run a regional business or know what is making it harder to farm in Tasmania, we want to hear from you.