THE Victorian Farmers Federation says it will be holding the state government to account to ensure the move to the new electronic identification system (eID) for sheep and goats from January 1 is cost neutral to farmers.
VFF livestock group president Leonard Vallance said it wanted safeguards installed to guarantee supply chain costs did not burden livestock producers as the eID system matured.
The state government has invested $17 million in sheep and goat eID so the livestock sector can provide a lifetime traceability guarantee that will support biosecurity and market access.
The money includes $7.7 million to subsidise the cost to producers of implementing eID, grants for infrastructure and co-funded equipment and an education program.
- This article first appeared on www.standard.net.au