While Thursday may be ‘Thank A Farmer Day’ at the Royal Easter Show in Sydney, Member for the Dubbo electorate Dugald Saunders took the chance to head west and do the same thing for primary producers in the Trangie region.
Mr Saunders hosted a community barbecue at Delta Agriculture and used the event as an opportunity to talk with members of the farming community and discuss issues impacting on the sector.
While rain over the past year has provided some welcome relief for farmers, Mr Saunders said there is still a lot happening within the agriculture sector that can be ascertained by speaking with those directly involved.
“Thank A Farmer Day is an important day at the Easter Show but not every farmer can get to the show, so I thought I’d go to some of our farmers, thank them and listen to what they see as things that are working and things that aren’t working,” he said.
“People who live on the land have been through a lot with a drought followed by a pandemic. In some cases there have been also bushfires and in other cases there have also been floods and at the moment there is obviously a problem with a rodent plague.
“Farmers are proud people, and living on the land can be difficult, so it was great to take the opportunity to get together with some members of the local agriculture industry and hear from them how things are going in the western area of the region.”