NSW Farmers labels new grassfed body Cattle Australia 'unfair and undemocratic'

State farming organisations are split on whether they will vote yes to adopting a draft constitution which would allow the new body, Cattle Australia, to replace the existing peak body Cattle Council of Australia.

The vote among SFOs, which are Cattle Council's founding members, will be taken on Tuesday and needs 75 per cent support for the reform process to progress.

The country's largest SFO, NSW Farmers, will not support the new body and has lashed out at the model being put forward, saying it is 'unfair and undemocratic'.

But Livestock SA says this is the chance to 'end the distracting ten-year discussion about the structure of the cattle industry's peak body' and has urged the industry to move ahead with Cattle Australia.

The NSW Farmers' criticism is a serious knock to the efforts to set up Cattle Australia, that have been happening for more than two years, involved substantial government funding and attracted heavy criticism from other smaller cattle farmer representative groups.

NSW Farmers, which contributes a six figure sum to Cattle Council annually, says it remains unconvinced Cattle Australia will deliver any real benefit to grassfed beef producers.

If the overall vote is yes, NSW Farmers president Xavier Martin said his organisation would 'seriously consider its options'.

Should it walk away, that would arguably be the nail in the coffin for Cattle Australia, which can't really claim national representation minus the country's second largest cattle state.

NSW Farmers, which represents farmers across the widest spread of agricultural commodities of any SFO, has listed a lack of detail on funding, dysfunctional policy development capability and an undemocratic model as the reasons it won't support Cattle Australia.

Key elements of the new body is the direct election of board members and sliding voting entitlements based on herd size.

Mr Martin told Farmonline votes based on head of cattle owned would mean a small number of producers in northern Australia could 'out-vote' the larger number of producers in southern Australia.

NSW Farmers advocates one vote per cattle producer.

The proposed model also showed no clear long-term funding arrangements or business case, Mr Martin said.

Asked if a sustainable funding solution was actually possible, given the money and expertise that has gone into attempting to find one without success, he said: "Other agricultural sectors have developed sustainable funding models, so it is possible."

He said a clear business case and budget must be provided, otherwise members were voting on assumption rather than fact.

NSW Farmers will ask Cattle Council to go back to the drawing board and negotiating table and come up with the right model.

"It's appropriate to have a 'review and renew' but what is proposed must be better than what we have," Mr Martin said.

There were a number of challenges ahead for Australia's grassfed beef producers, from biosecurity to animal activists right through to issues of productivity, and that meant there was a clear need for an industry restructure, he said.

But what was currently in front of producers was not a step forward, he said.

"We cannot allow this important industry to be derailed by ineffective representation, and we're worried that's what is in store for producers under this current proposal," Mr Martin said.

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South Australia's SFO, Livestock SA, has urged a vote in favour of endorsing the draft constitution, saying SFOs will be sacrificing control over the organisation in the interests of individual cattle producers and the industry.

As the new representative peak body for grassfed cattle producers, Cattle Australia will elevate national policy priorities and advocacy efforts, it argues.

President Joe Keynes said a thorough and inclusive process had been conducted over the past two years and major concerns with the CCA structure had now been addressed.

"Cattle Australia, the entity that will succeed CCA, will have a governance structure that allows for the democratic election of its leaders," he said.

Livestock SA would continue to play a key role in Cattle Australia by remaining a member, continuing to provide the grassroots network for SA producers elected to the board and policy council and continuing to help develop the policies and the people needed to lead the national and international agenda for the cattle industry through Cattle Australia, Mr Keynes said.

Both the Northern Territory Cattlemens' Association and Agforce have previously indicated support for progressing Cattle Australia.

NTCA president David Connnolly said it might not be perfect but there would be opportunity to refine it as it grew.

Former Agforce cattle committee head Will Wilson said earlier this year if producers valued having a voice they 'had to make this work'.