Community
6 June, 2025
Lifeline for farmers
AUSTRALIAN farmers struggling through devastating droughts and floods are being offered a lifeline to access hay.
Feed Central’s LocalAg is gathering non-binding expressions of interest in sourcing potential hay supplies as it seeks to coordinate a national response to the dual disasters.
Managing director Tim Ford said a coordinated response was needed to assess the magnitude of the disaster and address the urgent needs of farmers.
“People can go to the webpage ‘Hay Wanted I LocalAg’ to register their interest and let us know the quantity of hay they need,” Mr Ford said.
“Having that data will allow us to have discussions with government around biosecurity protocols, particularly out of Western Australia, and with providers to start coordinating a large-scale freight and logistics plan,” he said.
Mr Ford stressed that farmers completing the form were not signing a binding contract but simply lodging an expression of interest.
He added that Feed Central’s LocalAg was working on interstate supply options.
“We realise that farmers are doing it tough from both drought and flood and getting data about their needs will allow us to help them,” he said.
“We are looking to Western Australia and Queensland for supply options but need to know what is needed so we can make a more complete submission to government and can work through the supply logistics.
“At the moment it’s happening in an ad-hoc way so we need an understanding of the volume required and we may be able to help with a more coordinated approach to address the problem.”
Mr Ford said farmers expressing interest would later have the opportunity to enter a contract once availability was confirmed.
“Our team understands the urgency and is working hard to move quickly,” he added.
More details can be found at Hay Wanted I LocalAg.
LocalAg is an online agricultural marketplace, designed to meet the evolving needs of farmers and agribusinesses, and backed by Feed Central’s 22 years of industry experience.
