By Hamish McIntyre, NFF President
Like every producer across the country right now, I’m watching the fuel and fertiliser situation unfold day by day, and making decisions in real time about what comes next.
The conflict in the Middle East might feel a long way from here, but its impact is being felt sorely, and the fire at the Geelong refinery – one of Australia’s remaining two refineries – highlighted how fragile our supply chains are.
Uncertainty is creeping into decisions that should be straightforward.
Decisions about whether to sow, harvest, transport and invest for the seasons ahead.
Australian agriculture has proven time and again that it is resilient. But resilience shouldn’t be confused with invincibility.
What this crisis has exposed is just how vulnerable our food production system is to global shocks.
For years, we’ve been ringing the bell about our reliance on imported fuel and fertiliser. We saw that risk play out with AdBlue shortage in 2021 and 2022.
That’s why our key ask at the 2025 federal election was for a National Food Security Strategy to safeguard Australian agriculture and our food system in an increasingly volatile world. This was an ask that received bipartisan support and which the government is now progressing.
At the NFF, our job is to make sure the realities on the ground are heard by decision-makers.
Over recent weeks, we’ve heard the Prime Minister and senior ministers acknowledge the impact on farmers, and we’ve made sure the voice of farmers is front and centre in the conversation.
That advocacy is delivering results.
We’ve seen the government move to underwrite fuel and fertiliser imports, temporarily reduce the Minimum Stockholding Obligation for fuel, establish a fertiliser taskforce (which the NFF is a member of), secure an extra 250,000 tonnes of urea from Indonesia, and defer increased export-cost recovery.
But we’re not there yet and right now, farmers in regional Australia are still facing tight supply and rising costs.
Independent fuel retailers, which supply much of regional Australia, remain under pressure, and that’s flowing directly into our supply chains.
We’re continuing to push for three key actions.
First, we need an agriculture-specific plan to secure fuel supply, with clear trigger points for further government action if conditions worsen.
Second, agriculture must be recognised as a critical industry under emergency fuel arrangements.
Third, targeted support is needed for small to medium businesses in regional Australia, across the supply chain, that are under acute financial pressure.
At the same time, we need to lift our sights beyond the immediate crisis – we cannot allow ourselves to drift back to business as usual once this passes.
Other countries will be looking at their own supply chains and moving to shore them up. Australia must do the same.
That means strengthening our food security planning, investing in realistic domestic capability, and accelerating work on solutions like biofuels to build long-term resilience.
Farmers will keep doing what they’ve always done – getting on with the job – but we need the right settings in place to make sure they stay viable and productive.
Originally published on Farm Online.
Ashleigh Whittaker
Stacey Davidson