The Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) is continuing its internecine war with notice of a fresh leadership spill tabled recently on April 14, with the aim to remove the president, Emma Germano and vice-president, Danyel Cuccinotta.

A request for an Extraordinary General Meeting (EMG) has been made by VFF members.

It is scheduled for 1pm on May 10 at the St Arnaud Sporting Club.

In late 2023, a militant group of VFF members, led by then VFF Grains Group president and Rupanyup farmer, Andrew Weidemann failed to secure such a ruling in the Federal Court.

The current move is being led by United Dairy Farmers of Victoria (UDV) president Bernie Free.

UDV is the VFF’s dairy industry group.

Thus, it appears that the dissatisfaction has spread from grains to dairy.

In particular, two notable developments in VFF’s relationships in the dairy sector have come to light.

Firstly, the peak dairy industry body Australian Dairy Farmers (ADF) has indicated that it intends to take the VFF to court to recover some $500,000 in unpaid dues collected from VFF dairy farm members.

ADF chairman, Pomberneit dairy farmer, Ben Bennett has said that ADF had been “…very patient over the past twelve months.”

Secondly, a breakaway Victorian group Dairy Farmers Victoria (DFV) has been set up, being led by industry identity and Colac dairy farm manager, Ben Bennett.

This group (DFV) appears to be an alternative to the VFF’s UDV and has reported growing membership.

DFV’s member subscription rate is advertised on its website as $500 plus GST.

On the VFF’s Grain Industry Group front, intense dissatisfaction has been expressed regarding the treatment of subscriptions from grain-growers and the application of funds from this sector to allegedly retire general VFF debt.

The response of the VFF Board to the call for an EMG was contained in a tersely-worded circular email (April 18) to members stating, “The request (for an EMG) was deemed to be invalid and this was communicated with the requisitioners and the wider membership shortly after.”

Subsequently in the email, the VFF board said, “The VFF has been forced to spend $289k of members’ money to protect the democratic principles of the VFF.”

“Despite winning in the Federal Court, the VFF was only able to recoup $135k of costs from the activists who seemingly consider themselves entitled to benefit from VFF member resources. Any further attempts to recover more costs risked more time and money spent on legal activity and fees.”

Reports of falling membership and reduced staff numbers at VFF headquarters, Farrer House in Collins Street, Melbourne also suggest that there are potentially irreconcilable differences at Head Office.