Why the SIF and CIF review matters – and why timing can’t be an excuse

(As published in the Stock Journal)

Few words trigger more groans in agriculture than ‘levy review’. Fair enough. They almost always land when seasons are tight, margins are under pressure, or confidence is shaky. The timing is rarely ideal – and this one is no exception.

But the review and remaking of the Sheep Industry Fund (SIF) and Cattle Industry Fund (CIF) regulations is not optional. It is a government-scheduled process, with both regulations due to expire and be remade by September 2026. Livestock SA negotiated a one-year extension last year due to much of the state experiencing severe drought conditions.

If we don’t engage properly, we risk losing momentum, investment capacity, and influence over how our own industry sets its direction and invests in its future. That’s why Livestock SA is leaning into this review, not shying away from it.

The SIF and CIF exist for a simple reason: to support and advance the South Australian sheep and cattle industries by funding the things individual businesses can’t do alone. Biosecurity, traceability, animal health programs, predator control, advocacy, skills, and industry development. From keeping wild dogs out of pastoral zones, to maintaining NLIS integrity and market access, to funding disease surveillance and emergency response capability – these are industry-good investments that protect productivity and reduce risk across the whole supply chain.

Before asking industry to consider any changes, we have done the hard yards on accountability. That matters, because trust in levy systems depends on evidence. Producers are entitled to know not just where funds were spent, but what value they deliver.

Independent analysis shows these investments deliver returns of 3:1 to more than 10:1. But the system is now structurally under-funded. Demand for projects exceeds available money by up to three times. Good ideas are being left on the table and our ability to leverage other funding sources, currently up to three dollars for every dollar producers invest, is waning.

This is at a time when the livestock sector is facing bigger, more complex challenges than at any point in recent memory. Climate risk, animal welfare regulation, traceability reform, emissions reporting, land use competition, biodiversity targets, biosecurity threats, and global market scrutiny to name a few. Yet the funding model that pays for projects and activities that the help our industry navigate this has not changed since 2016–17. That is not sustainable.

Without reform, fewer priorities will be funded, and some critical capabilities will continue to be scaled back.

Strong, well-designed industry funds, which are the envy of other jurisdictions, are one of the few tools we have to tackle those challenges collectively. Because if industry doesn’t design its own future, someone else will.

Importantly, this is not a decision made in a back room. A staged consultation process will roll out over the coming months, and feedback will directly shape the final recommendations put to government.

Yes, the timing is difficult. It always is. But waiting for the ‘perfect’ moment means handing control to circumstance instead of industry leadership.

This review is a chance to modernise the system, strengthen fairness and transparency, and ensure the SIF and CIF remain fit for purpose for the next decade.

It is your levy, your system, your future.

Travis Tobin - January 2026