Attributable to NSW Farmers' President Xavier Martin:
We are saddened to hear of the passing of one of the founding fathers of our organisation, Michael Tooth of Armidale.
Michael was part of the team who led the amalgamation of the previous NSW Graziers' Association, United Farmers' and Woolgrowers' Association and The Riverina Graziers' Association in 1978 to form the Livestock and Grain Producers' Association of NSW.
Later, as President of the new Association, Michael saw to its renaming as NSW Farmers' Association in 1987, in recognition of its wider appeal to all farming industries.
Together with another former president, Michael Davidson, and CEO John White, Michael Tooth was a driving force from NSW who designed and established the National Farmers' Federation (NFF) in 1979, joining into one body the many farm groups that had existed nationally at the time.
Michael was President of NSW Farmers at the time of the farmer's rally in Canberra in 1985. Working together with the Association's then-Vice President, Peter Taylor, Michael sparked up the farm network leading to around 25,000 farmers from NSW joining the rally.
He then worked to establish the formidable Australian Farmers' Fighting Fund (AFFF) and served as an inaugural trustee taking on groundbreaking legal action in various cases to assert farmers' interests, including the Dollar Sweets case and the Mudginberri dispute.
Much of the present financial stability of NSW Farmers can be put down to Michael's leadership of patient negotiations with Sydney developer, Sid Londish, to sell the Association's original head office. For many years, the price achieved was the Australian record per square metre of real estate.
Michael saw the evolving environmental movement as a potential threat to farming and worked to befriend and give context to many of its early leaders. He first saw the benefit of proper legislation to preserve threatened species while allowing the continuation of routine farming practices. Under his presidency, and at his urging, many livestock farmers joined the RSPCA to help maintain proper standards of animal welfare.
Michael maintained a keen and close interest in NSW Farmers' Association after his retirement.
He will be sadly missed and we are so grateful for his achievements on our behalf. I extend the condolences of all members to his family and friends.
