FarmBis, the joint initiative between the State and Federal Governments to help primary producers participate in business and natural resource training was first introduced in 1997 under the umbrella national Agriculture Advancing Australia initiative.

Until the latest round of negotiations for the scheme, NSW had fully participated in the original 1997 FarmBis program and was the first state to sign-on to the re-negotiated FarmBis program in July 2001.

The last federal-state FarmBis agreement in NSW proved so popular that all funds available for the scheme, which is shared 50:50 by both levels of government and administered in the state by the Rural Assistance Authority (RAA), had already been committed by the 2003-04 financial year.

Speaking in parliament the day after the state budget for the current financial year was announced, NSW Minister for Primary Industries Ian Macdonald said FarmBis had been allocated $5million for the current financial year.

Moreover, Mr Macdonald stated in parliament that government "will be finalising the terms of this program with the Commonwealth in the near future in order that farmers may benefit from this valuable program".

His statements were taken from a Hansard transcript dated Wednesday, June 23, 2004.

However, negotiations have not yet been successful and a spokesperson for the NSW Farmers' Association said they had been left with no indication as to why the NSW Government remained the only state not to reach a FarmBis agreement with the Commonwealth.

Tim Langmead, a spokesperson for Federal Agriculture Minister Warren Truss said of the $66.7million in federal funding allocated over four years toward the entire FarmBis program in last year's budget "we've allocated a nominal amount for NSW".

However, no agreement has yet been reached, which is having a negative impact on farmers and other primary producers across the NSW, Mr Truss said.