Farmer unity in Victoria In 1840, the Australia Felix Pastoral and Agricultural Society was founded in Melbourne. It held its first agricultural show in 1842, which was a failure. It disbanded soon after. The Moonee Ponds Farmers' Society began in 1848, and within months had expanded its scope and became the Port Phillip Farmers' Society, aiming to serve the
Port Phillip District. (This group held the first events now considered to be the
Melbourne Show. and this served as a think-tank which influenced farmers across the state. In 1866, a short lived Victorian Farmers' Association was established. By 1870 there was no Victoria-wide farming group, and the
National Agricultural Society of Victoria was founded in that year to represent farmers' interests. It ceased in 1880. Its role was taken up by the Victorian Farmers' Protectionist Association, founded in 1887, and becoming known as the Victorian Farmers' Association in 1891 before also fading away. The similar Victorian Chamber of Agriculture then existed from 1899 to 1900. The
second VFU existed under that name from 1914 to 1927. In 1926, a large number of Mallee wheat farmer VFU branches broke away from this body to become the
Primary Producer's Union, (with some additional support in other parts of the state). The VFU broadened its membership to include non-farmers who lived in country areas, and became the
Victorian Country Party in 1927. Despite the contribution these organisations made to representing farmers' interests in Victoria, they are not considered as forerunners to the modern VFF. Instead, today's VFF traces its roots back to the VFU established in 1968 following the merger of the Victorian Wheat and Woolgrowers Association (VWWA) established in 1938, and the Victorian Branch of the Australian Primary Producers Union (APUV) established in 1940. The Graziers Association of Victoria's roots went as far back as 1890, when during a shearing turmoil, the Pastoralists Union of Victoria and Southern Riverina was formed. The main concern at that time was the strength of the
Amalgamated Shearers Union and it became apparent that pastoralists had to unite as a counter measure. In 1907 the
Riverina farmers split to form a separate organisation and some 18 years later, in 1925, the Pastoral Association of Victoria became known as the Graziers Association of Victoria (GAV). The Victorian Dairy Farmers Association was founded in the late 1800s. It merged with the dairy division of the VFU in 1976 to form the United Dairyfarmers of Victoria (UDV). In 1979 the VFU, GAV and UDV merged to form the Victorian Farmers and Graziers Association (VFGA), In 1986 the VFGA changed its name to the Victorian Farmers Federation to come into line with the other national and state farming organisations.
Fighting for a fair go During the 1980s, the
introduction of wide combs for shearing caused enormous unrest in the pastoral industry as did the so-called '
Mudginberri dispute' which became a landmark in terms of challenging the labour efficiency in abattoirs. The VFGA was very proactive and lobbied hard on both these issues. A crippling drought in 1982/83 caused enormous hardship for Victorian farmers. Again the VFGA fought hard for its members. Farmers gained access to subsidies for fodder and also for transport of livestock and fodder. Landcare was created in 1986 and grew from groups of Victorian farmers coming together to tackle natural resource management issues on a district and regional basis. The VFF retains a very a close link with the Victorian Landcare network. There are now about 1,000 Landcare groups and over 20,000 Landcare members in Victoria, most of whom are also VFF members. == Structure ==