QUEENSLAND sheep, wool and goat producers remain concerned about proposed changes to the Livestock Production Assurance Program announced on 1 August 2024.

AgForce Sheep, Wool and Goats (SWAG) board said it remains concerned the LPA changes — including changes to reaccreditation and fees – are to the detriment of the industry,  Meat & Livestock Australia asserting they were endorsed by industry.

The Livestock Production Assurance Program is run by the MLA subsidiary, the Integrity Systems Company.

LPA is the national livestock industry’s on-farm assurance program that provides evidence of animal movement history and on-farm practices when transferring livestock through the value chain.

The proposed changes included frequency of accreditation cycles, a new self-assessment accreditation process rather than the existing questionnaire and an increase in costs associated with the LPA program.

AgForce SWAG Board President, Stephen Tully said “the onus just keeps being put back onto producers to front the costs.”

“The new accreditation period is essentially paying more money for less value,” he said.

The cost of accreditation and reaccreditation is remaining at $90 plus GST for the new two-year accreditation period, despite this being a shorter accreditation time than before. This raises the cost of accreditation on a yearly basis from $30/year plus GST to $45/year plus GST, AgForce said.

“These changes are meant to deliver sustainable funding for the LPA program, but more information is needed for it to be justified,” Mr Tully said.

“The last thing producers need is more needless red tape with questionable outcomes.”

For more information on the new LPA changes, please see here.