Now James Walker is taking his CEO Outback Business Summit to the big end of town, to Parliament House in Brisbane on Friday.

“Queensland’s Rural Press Club approached me – they liked how we tackled the issues underlying debt in Longreach last year and they want to get us close to business in Brisbane,” James said.

“There has been much talk of the current drought and the impacts on local communities, but what will we do differently next time round?

“At this stage we will have a lot of new owners buying out others, the farms will be bigger, and the declining terms of trade at the farm gate will see it swing shut on many. All the fund-raising in the world won't change this.

“Instead of philosophising on what could be different, we need to provide structural reform and new products for farmers that can impact core debt.”

James said it was a matter of asking the right questions and having key people in the room to action the ideas that are presented.

The summit at Parliament House from 1-5pm this Friday will bring together CEOs, politicians, bankers, producers, celebrity and media to tap their collective knowledge to develop solutions.

Co-host, Professor John Cole from the USQ's Institute for Resilient Regions said his group was right behind the initiative.

“It is one thing to talk about the problems, which our industry is extremely good at, but how do we create new ways capital can be plugged into a farm,” he said. “How does it look when someone from the city wants to invest in a family farm? How do institutional investors provide the option for all farmers to reduce their debt and gain a partner? Are micro-co-ops a new opportunity?”

Although many graziers in western Queensland are destocked at the moment and are holding reasonable equity levels when it rains, it is estimated that for every 30,000 acres, these properties will need between $1m and $2m each to restock.

In the far west of the state where farms are mostly 90 per cent destocked, this represents close to $2 billion and finding two million cows or their equivalent when it rains, to get back to full production. 

As well as getting capital into distressed farms, the summit aims to provide a framework for those wanting to expand, and for young people who are keen to make a start in farming or grazing.

James said people were really keen to help because they could see it was better to create a new structure rather than just throw money at something.

He also said it wasn’t an exclusive event but was open to all via live-streaming, which is how federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce will be taking part.

Interested people can register at www.agrihive.com to download the case study and watch or get the recoding.