Snapshot of red tape costs on farm in Australia 2014

To further inform policy discussions on red tape reduction, the NFF has released a report that updates work from 2007: A snapshot of the red tape costs on farms in Australia. The report analyses administrative and compliance costs associated with a sample of farm operations.
The report estimates that farmers spend over 20 days—around 10 per cent of the working year—consumed in tasks associated with regulatory compliance. In total, for the average farm, red tape equated to around 14 per cent of net farm profit, eating into 3.9 per cent of farm income.
The report is by no means comprehensive, but provides a sound indication of the costs faced by Australian farm businesses. Depending on their enterprise mix, the report finds some farmers are incurring costs of between $24,000 and $43,000 each year