Livestock SA has launched industry-wide consultation on the future of the Sheep and Cattle Industry Funds.
Together with sheep and cattle producers, Livestock SA is consulting as part of the scheduled review and remaking of the regulations governing the Sheep Industry Fund (SIF) and Cattle Industry Fund (CIF).
The regulations must be remade by 1 September 2026 under the Primary Industry Funding Schemes Act 1998.
Livestock SA chairperson Gillian Fennell said the review was a statutory process, but also a critical opportunity for producers to shape how their industry invests in the systems that protect productivity, market access and long-term resilience.
“These funds pay for the things individual businesses simply can’t do alone – animal health, biosecurity, traceability, predator control, workforce capability and regulatory defence,” she said.
“They protect our markets, reduce risk and lift productivity across the whole supply chain.
“But the funding model hasn’t changed since 2016, and it is no longer keeping pace with the scale of the challenge facing our industry.”
Independent analysis shows SIF and CIF investments deliver returns of three to more than ten dollars for every dollar invested, while demand for funding now exceeds available revenue by up to three times.
Ms Fennell said without reform, fewer industry priorities would be funded at a time when compliance, climate risk, animal welfare and market access pressures were increasing.
“Doing nothing is not an option. The system is structurally under-funded and that ultimately puts our competitiveness and market access at risk,” she said.
“This is not a decision being made in a back room. This is an industry-led consultation and producers will determine the final proposal that goes to government.”
The consultation will run through February and March, with regional meetings, online sessions and an industry vote in April before final recommendations are submitted to the Primary Industries Minister in May.
“This is your levy, your system and your future,” Ms Fennell said.
“If industry doesn’t design its own funding model, someone else will. This is our chance to get it right for the next decade.”
Full consultation materials and session details are available at livestocksa.com.au/about-livestock-sa/pifs-review-2026
