After being officially announced as the new President of the National Farmers Federation, David Jochinke appeared on the Flow airwaves to discuss the main topics he expects to be across during his presidency of Australian farming's peak body.
The Victorian producer, who hails from Murra Warra in western Victoria, an area situated inside Flow FM's listener network, has replaced Fiona Simson who served in the position for seven years.
Jochinke boasts an impressive CV, having served as the President of the Victorian Farming Federation President until 2020 when he was replaced by Emma Germano, who also appeared on the Flow airwaves this week.
Prior to being elected President of the National Farmers Federation, Jochinke served as the Vice President of the peak body.
Jochinke discussed his farming background and expanded on his convictions to provide listeners with a strong indication of what he will advocate for as the chief of his organisation.
"I can remember distinctly the day I was frustrated enough to go to my first farmers meeting where I wanted to make some change and like most organisations, if a young person comes along and shows a little bit of spark, they get given a job for which I came home to treasure, as secretary of our local district council," Jochinke said.
"From there, I haven't really looked back, I've been involved at the executive level of policy both at state and now federally and one of the best jobs is meeting farmers, hearing their stories and then telling those stories to the decision-makers so that they understand the consequences of when they do make the decision and impact they can have in those communities.
Jochinke also expressed his desire to stand with farmers in resisting bureaucratic overreach and fighting for producers' rights, illustrated through a key campaign he is endorsing, the 'keep farmers farming' campaign.
"As a part of our issue of anti-farming policies that we're seeing mount up in Canberra, we're launching something called 'Keep Farmers Farming', It's a national campaign that's about highlighting and getting people involved with the agricultural sector to support our cause," said Jochinke.
"If people go to the website...they can sign a petition, they can send an email to the Prime Minister, they can donate as well, so there's many ways that people can get involved to make sure that the voice of agriculture is heard and we stop this erosion of agricultural production because, what we do know is if farmers produce less, consumers pay more."