Tough economic conditions are changing the spending patterns of many of the state’s rural operators, Livestock Transporters Association of Victoria (LTAV) Chairperson Jodi Fry says.
“Ultimately, people are being very cautious with their money knowing that their life expenses are going to increase in the next little bit,” Fry says.
By Ruza Zivkusic-Aftasi | August 15, 2012
Tough economic conditions are changing the spending patterns of many of the state’s rural operators, Livestock Transporters Association of Victoria (LTAV) Chairperson Jodi Fry says.
“Ultimately, people are being very cautious with their money knowing that their life expenses are going to increase in the next little bit,” Fry says.
She says operators are holding off from investing in new equipment and those that are due to retire with plans to sell their business are instead closing up the shop.
“What we are finding is that some people that are due to retire are actually retiring out their business and selling off their equipment rather than selling their business,” Fry says.
“This is sad for our industry as farming has a lot of older operators and there’s not a whole lot of younger ones coming through so something needs to be done to address this – we need to be able to encourage young people into the industry to take it on and replace the ones that are leaving and at this point in time it’s not being done.”
The LTVA is also feeling the impact.
Annual conference numbers, though reasonable, are lower than in previous years, with 180 registering to attend the annual conference.
“We try to keep the cost of the conference down as far as we’re able to run it at a slight profit,” Fry says.
The annual conference will be held at Bendigo’s All Seasons International Resort from this Friday to Sunday.
Topics such as the threat of food and mouth disease, biosecurity, profitability and preparing the business for the future, will be covered.
For more information, contact Jodi Frost on 0429 804 197.
