With the Federal Election just weeks away, SARM has released its list of Election Priorities.
President Ray Orb says now is the time to be talking to candidates about rural broadband infrastructure, carbon tax and offsets.
"Farmers and ranchers already are sequestering carbon. They're doing their part and have been for some time to sequester carbon to take greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere. But, of course, we all know that, but the federal government doesn't recognize this. They have not come forward with a meaningful offset program that would reward farmers rather than penalize them. The current carbon tax structure that we have in place, imposed on us by the federal government, is penalizing farmers."
He notes they also are calling for more infrastructure funding for rural municipalities, and better Ag safety nets.
"You know, we really believe that if we had more effective, more realistic safety net programs that really would reflect, you know, the farmer's cost of production. We probably wouldn't need extra help. As we're asking for now. We're asking for Agri-Recovery, which is a framework that is being developed. We wouldn't need those kinds of things as much if we had a better safety net program."
Orb would like to hear more from the political candidates about agricultural issues.
Voters go to the poll September 20th.
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