December 11, 2013
Former Swickers managing director John Coward – a director of producer group Australian Pork Limited – is pressing the State Government to adjust piggery licence fees.
Speaking to the ABC this week, Mr Coward said the increase in licence fees over the past few years and a hike in the cost of feed had seen profit margins for pig producers collapse.
The fees are set on a sliding scale based on the fact that bigger piggeries produce more waste and therefore present a higher environmental risk.
Murgon piggery owner Greg Upton told the ABC he may have to close down his farm if he can’t raise the funds for his licence.
Mr Upton said his licence fee was more than $3000 and had risen $400 in the past five years.
He said other producers had left the industry.
Mr Coward said he had spoken to the State Government about the fee structure.
“One of the things we’d like to see is a more equitable spread of fees across the whole production range, so that a person that has got say 10 pigs more than the lower limits doesn’t automatically jump up to a higher limit,” he told the ABC.
He said the government was considering the request.
