Pest controls and weather: what's in the budget for farmers and agriculture

Farmers and agriculture were mentioned just a handful of times in the big budget speeches from the government, perhaps indicative of the priority they received.

However, there were some notable mentions with pest control, regional roads and biosecurity control all seeing increased investment.

Treasurer Tim Pallas claimed the budget had given an "enormous amount" for regional Victoria.

Mr Pallas said the financial contribution his government put into rural areas outnumbered that of the previous government by three to one.

"It's really a demonstration of our continual effort to invest in regional Victoria," he said.

Mr Pallas honed in on payroll tax and said regional Victoria was continuing to benefit from reduced rates.

"You are paying 75 per cent less in payroll tax than metropolitan Melbourne," he said.

"I think regional Victoria can have a fair depth of confidence that we will continue to make those investments."

The Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action was allocated $2 million for the management of pests across 2024-25, with a further $800,000 to be invested in the two years thereafter.

Pests including foxes, feral pigs, goats and rabbits will be targeted via a new inter-agency pest animal management program.

The funding will enable the fox bounty program to continue until June 30, 2025.

Notably, no budget provisions were made to help control the impact of wild dogs or dingoes on livestock production.

In an interview with Stock & Land, Premier Jacinta Allan was asked if this was sufficient for the farmers working to protect their livelihoods from the pest carnivores.

Ms Allan said pest control was an example of a budget line item which needed to be continually re-evaluated.

"We've funded [the fox bounty] for the next couple of years, recognising it is one tool amongst a number of mechanisms that farmers and landowners use to manage pests on their properties," she said.

"It's an example that these are the sorts of programs you need to continually re-evaluate.

"We had a look at it and decided to continue to support it for the next couple of years."

Ms Allan argued that farmers needed investment in their rural areas, not just within the agriculture sector.

"What I know from the farming communities I represent, alongside the investment and support that we give the agriculture sector as an industry, it's also about upgrading schools, investing in hospitals and health services," she said.

"Because to be a farming family, you also have to make sure that they have the services to support the family while you also live on the land."

Rural roads did get a funding boost, albeit not majorly.

There was $133m invested to support Victoria's regional rail network, including operating newly-delivered train stabling yards, stations and VLocity trains, and upgrading the rail tunnel between Geelong and South Geelong.

In total, $104m was allocated for works to keep rail freight moving across the state.

This included provisions to encourage freight operators to take up rail and reduce trucks on regional roads.

There was also $62m invested in upgrades to make regional roads safer and improve freight routes.

These projects included upgrading the Princess Highway East between Melbourne and Gippsland's Latrobe Valley, upgrading the Dimboola Bridge and Dadswell Bridge on the Western Highway, safety improvements to London Bridge at Talbot and creating a safer crossing for pedestrians at Miners Rest.

Healthcare was to see a similar regional boost with $117m allocated to expand Latrobe Regional Hospital and $28m to help deliver better residential home care in regional areas.

There was $11m made available for Priority Primary Care Centres in regional areas and $10m was allocated to provide additional mental health care facilities for rural dwellers.

With farmers in many parts of Victoria dealing with increasingly-dry summers, the budget allocated $2.3m to the Future Drought Fund for 2024-25.

A further $4m will be invested in 2025-26, $1.8m in 2026-27 and $2.1m across 2027-28.

The funding provision was aimed at partnering with the federal government to continue to build preparedness and resilience for drought in Victoria's agricultural regions.

Bushfires also ravaged parts of north-west Victoria this year and the budget set aside $105m to prevent, prepare for and respond to these in future.

Of this, a total of $51m was set aside for fuel management, firefighting activities and bushfire prevention across the state.

There was $35m allocated for new fire trucks for the Country Fire Authority and Fire Rescue Victoria.

There was $20m made available to maintain bushfire response infrastructure, including replacing and renewing machinery and updating fire access roads.

While a small budget line item, investment was made in supporting farmers' mental health and wellbeing, specifically.

The budget allocated just over $4m for the Rural Financial Counselling Service for 2024-26.

The funding was aimed at providing financial counselling to Victorian farmers and foresters.

The budget allocated $85m to protect Victorian farmers and native species from biosecurity threats, including provisions for emergency animal disease preparedness.

A sizeable $73m of this sum will be invested in helping to eradicate the invasive red imported fire ant.

The species threatened wildlife and agricultural activity and the funding fed into a national control and eradication plan.

The remaining biosecurity funds will be used to manage threats such as foot and mouth disease and lumpy skin disease entering Victoria.

The budget was also mainly aimed at helping Victorian families as they grappled with cost-of-living pressures, according to Mr Pallas and Ms Allan.

Rural families will get a boost from this objective in the form of a one-off $400 payment for school expenses.

Parents with children attending Victorian state schools will receive the payment for each student.

It will also be made available for concession card holders at non-government schools.

The parents of more than 700,000 school students will be eligible to receive the payments, which will cost $287m.

The money will be made available as credit that can be put towards educational expenses including for uniforms, school camps, sports programs and outdoor education.