General Meeting - July 2022

Membership fees

There was a discussion on whether to change the structure and level of fees for 2022-23. The Board of Directors sets the level and structure of membership fees, but wanted first to discuss this issue with members. There was no vote for this agenda item.

Membership fee structures for a range of comparable organisations are below.

Organics Aotearoa New Zealand

Individuals: $250
Small business (< $2m): $500
Medium business ($2m-$10m): $1,500
Non-profit: $1,500
Large business (> $10m): $2,500

Australian Organic Ltd

Certified operators: $275
Associates (non-voting): $550
Associates (voting): $1,800

NASAA

$99

NSW Farmers Association

Basic producer (industrial relations package): $438.90
Essentials 0-2 FTE (employment relations package): $603.90
Essentials 2-5 FTE: $713.90
Essentials 5-10 FTE: $878.90
Essentials 10+ FTE: Not provided
Small farms: $150
Associate: $100
Retired: $100
Country connection: $100

Key points from discussion included:

• the current $10 annual fee does not signal that there is a value in membership
• there is a real need to lift the level of fees to make OIA finances more sustainable
• its hard to provide value when OIA lacks the resources - it probably needs around $250k annually to become fully operational
• its unlikely that the required finances will come from membership fees alone
• there is a need to have a tiered membership fee structure, with value at each tier
• need to raise the fee level  to at least $50 or maybe $100
• the Export Council charges around $800 and they provide a lot of value for active members
• could investigate piggy-backing membership with other organisations - e.g. NASAA, COBWA

There was a consensus reached that the Board should implement a tiered structure of membership fees, lift the minimum rate, and charge larger businesses more.

Policy platform

The Board of Directors wants to put a policy platform in place to make it clear to the public, governments and stakeholders what the position of the organic industry is on a range of policy issues. The Board of Directors sets the policy platform, but first wanted to discuss this issue with members. There was no vote for this agenda item.

The following list of potential policies was circulated prior to the meeting.

Proposed high priority policies:

• Domestic and export organic standards - fit for purpose, forward looking, integrity
• Increased farm input costs - have now caused organic farmed to lose markets which are no longer viable
• Biosecurity – spray and seed drift & property rights for organic agriculture
• GMOs

Medium priority policies:

• Sustainability – organic is the gold standard of agricultural sustainability
• Certifying to the standard - professionalism, integrity, code of practice
• Auditing to the standard - professionalism and skills
• Organic farming and climate change

Other policy priorities:

• Policy positions on each industry sector
• Hydroponic production not in line with organic principles
• Organic leadership on deforestation
• Promoting no-till farming techniques for sustainable organic farming
• Biodiversity awareness towards agriculture

Key points from discussion included:

• OIA should be promoted as a safe place to discuss industry policy
• publishing policies would provide transparency and authority
• the Nationals and the Greens both have election platforms which included the regulation of organic markets
• truth in labelling / domestic regulation must be a high priority
• the list of policies shouldn't be too long
• consider international coordination
• need to consider the narrative of selling the policies once they are formulated
• need to consider an engagement strategy to pursue the policies
• price pressures may see a squeeze on organic sales, as well as increased production costs - so organic farmers likely to get squeezed in two ways
• need more research on organic production
• better data would help sell the policies
• should survey members on the top priorities
• need more zoom / in-person forums