SA Farmers Federation regional chair Bill Hunt addresses the large crowd at Lucindale last week as Kingston branch president Jack England takes minutes.
"AS FAR as I'm concerned, SAFF is dead, it's just about buried, and we're nearly ready to put the flowers on."
That comment from Tantanoola farmer Peter Altschwager and the applause that followed it summed up the mood of a special meeting at Lucindale last week.
Organised by the southern regional group of SA Farmers Federation, the meeting addressed key motions presented by the Kingston branch aimed at creating a new autonomous group to replace the embattled SAFF.
About 60 primary producers - both SAFF members and non-SAFF members - threw almost unanimous support behind the formation of a new group.
They were asked to vote on four resolutions from a recent meeting of the Kingston branch of SAFF, which drew overwhelming support.
The resolutions were:
1. The formation of an autonomous incorporated livestock body to represent livestock producers in SA be supported.
2. That the livestock body be funded by levies on livestock commodities produced.
3. That the livestock levy payers automatically become members of the livestock body and have voting entitlements.
4. Supports the proposed overarching committee group model in principal (Kerin model).
Full story in this week's Herald.