AgFest returns to calendar after Yankalilla council backflip

As published in The Victor Harbor Times by Dani Brown

December 12, 2024

Parawa Ag Bureau chair Philip Swincer. (Emma Heidenreich: 442488_01)

The District Council of Yankalilla has backflipped on its decision to scrap Fleurieu AgFest, instead moving to a model proposed by Parawa Agricultural Bureau which will see the council provide funding over the next two financial years.

Parawa Ag Bureau chair Philip Swincer put forward the group’s proposal through a deputation to the November council meeting, urging elected members to transition the operations of AgFest on a sliding scale of funding over the next two financial years.

He proposed this instead of abruptly cutting funding before the 2025 event, which is what the council had decided at the October council meeting.

He emphasised that the agriculture sector was the council district’s most productive business sector and the biggest employer, so keeping an event that positively supported the industry was important.

“The reason I say that is it (AgFest) isn’t a ‘fairy floss event’; it is an event which is looking to support the key economic pillar, really, of the community, and AgFest does provide great support for the community,” Mr Swincer said.

“AgFest, as I mentioned, has an education component; it also has a community event component.

“It’s a farming event; it supports innovation, technologies and efficiencies, and really, it’s a showcase event to help encourage local producers to showcase what they do, and it’s a very important thing to be able to show the community and build and share the learnings within the area.”

He said that not only were local schools able to leverage off relationships formed at Fleurieu AgFest, but there were also ideas, innovation, and advice shared among farmers.

The Parawa Ag Bureau’s proposal was that the council would recommit the $15,000 to run the event in 2025, then in the 2025-26 financial year it would commit $10,000, then $5000 in the 2026-27 financial year.

This would allow a transition for the agricultural industry to generate enough income and support to run it themselves, plus a comprehensive sharing of knowledge between the council and industry specialists.

“We will run in the same structure as last year under our proposal, and then we bring industry specialists in to work with council to facilitate that transition of knowledge and understanding, and then there’s a process to work out is there a group that will take it on or will they stand on a presiding board,” he said.

He said $13,000 of external funding had already been sourced for the 2025 event, including $6000 from Regional Development Australia’s local branch, $5000 from Community Bank Fleurieu (Bendigo Bank) and $2000 from the Ag Bureau.

Mr Swincer said he understood that the council was trying to be “fiscally responsible”, but said the council had a role to play in partnering with the agriculture sector, and once an event like AgFest was gone, it would be gone forever.

“The short term support to transition the event, instead of crashing the event to a halt – it actually transitions so it does come off the council books, it forms part of some cost savings, but it’s also done in a way which maintains the support the local agricultural community, and also doesn’t waste money that’s been spent so far getting the event going,” he said.

“There’s a strong community feeling that we need to be fiscally responsible, and that’s where we come in with the proposal to try and balance the two, and we would very strongly say that widespread community support for council being responsible doesn’t necessarily amount to support for removal of AgFest.

“In fact, the vast majority of rural-based people I spoke to have been in support of retaining AgFest.”

After extensive debate and questioning by councillors, the majority voted to rescind the motion from the October meeting.

In place of that decision, they endorsed the Parawa Ag Bureau’s proposal, with an intention to commit the future funding in order to support AgFest under a “community empowerment model”.

The council also reiterated that future funding allocations beyond the current financial year would be subject to confirmation during the annual budget development process and may be adjusted or not allocated based on financial priorities and operational requirements at the time.

Councillor Karin Hatch called for a division, and the vote was carried 5-4, with those in favour being councillors Shane Grocke, David Olsson, Simon Rothwell, Darryl Houston, and Tim Moffat, and those against being councillors Wayne Gibbs, Karin Hatch, Davina Quirke, and Lawrence Polomka.

Since the vote, the date for the 2025 Fleurieu AgFest has been set for Friday, April 4.