May 7, 2013

Queensland's beef producers are in their worst crisis in almost a century as drought and a beef glut takes its toll, with prices as low as during the 1972 crash.

Up to 1,000 graziers will meet today in the state's northwest to discuss a Federal Government bailout and the latest live export controversy in Egypt.

Many family-owned properties face foreclosure by banks because of debts and a glut of beef on the market.

Organisers of the beef crisis summit in Richmond expect federal Agriculture Minister Joe Ludwig and state Agriculture Minister John McVeigh to front the talks, along with federal MP Bob Katter and Senator Barnaby Joyce.

One-third of Queensland - mostly in the gulf country and western parts - was officially drought declared last week after the wet season failed.

Senator Joyce said the priority was for the Gillard Government to re-open live trade into Indonesia and Egypt. He said a proposed US$420 million rescue package had to include interest and freight subsidies as many farms were unviable ahead of the uncertainty of a long drought.

Senator Joyce said the takeover of GrainCorp left the nation without an international player in the food market.

Grazier Graeme Acton, who owns nine cattle stations in Queensland, said it was not only the beef industry being threatened by drought, the high Australian dollar and animal welfare concerns.

"It is grain, fat lambs, horticultural crops, and all the rest of the nation's food production too," he said.