Thread: Australian farmers / growers

Originally Posted by Gav 110

To much corporate greed in every industry 🤬

It's not just corporate greed. Everyone laments the loss of Australian industry, but when push comes to shove most people would prefer to buy the cheap import rather than the domestic product, even if the quality is not comparable.

In many cases, the only way businesses can survive is to go offshore to source products people are willing to pay for.

Australia's primary producers need to take control of the marketing of their produce. Stop being price takers. Form marketing companies and encourage ALL producers to only sell through their own company. Control the supply and price. Encourage non-viable, lifestyle, and hobby farms to sell or consolidate into viable self-supporting profitable enterprises.

Another way to benefit both primary production and manufacturing industry is to ban imports of goods where Australia has the capacity to provide 100% of our needs. Imports only to be permitted in the case of an unforeseen shortfall. Look what a protected home market did for Japan. It gave their manufacturers a cash flow base to establish the foundations of their industries and to buy their way into export markets with subsidised prices to start up in a new marketplace.

Originally Posted by jon3950

It's not just corporate greed. Everyone laments the loss of Australian industry, but when push comes to shove most people would prefer to buy the cheap import rather than the domestic product, even if the quality is not comparable.

In many cases, the only way businesses can survive is to go offshore to source products people are willing to pay for.

This happens far too often.

The cry of "But it's cheap!!" reverbs through shopping malls across Australia.

Awareness and the ability to conceptualise consequences on a larger scale aren't very common.

Look at Federal and state elections,, people are so easily swayed by money in the pocket rather than what may be best for the nation as a whole, even if they take a short term financial hit.

Originally Posted by Eevo

i think aust is a net importer of food.

Not sure what the current figures are, but in dollar terms I believe we have been. However you need to look at what the imports comprise of. Much of it is high dollar value items rather than fresh produce. I think even medicines may have been included in the figures.

My comment was really intended to be slightly provocative and a little tongue-in-cheek. However it underlines a serious point.

Ignore the emotion about farmers doing it tough and consider the facts. Food and textile production is a strategically important industry. We are living in interesting times and the world has the potential to become a much more dangerous place. It is quite conceivable that in the future the sea lanes we rely on for our imports will be blocked by a foreign power. What happens then when we don't produce enough food to feed the population? This is also why we need to maintain our oil reserves and why I think the car industry (and manufacturing generally) was important to Australia.

Cheers,
Jon

Originally Posted by jon3950

Ignore the emotion about farmers doing it tough and consider the facts. Food and textile production is a strategically important industry. We are living in interesting times and the world has the potential to become a much more dangerous place. It is quite conceivable that in the future the sea lanes we rely on for our imports will be blocked by a foreign power. What happens then when we don't produce enough food to feed the population? This is also why we need to maintain our oil reserves and why I think the car industry (and manufacturing generally) was important to Australia.

Cheers,
Jon

I fully agree. Charity begins at home. Export our unemployment problem by severely limiting imports. Motor vehicles would be a good starting point. Tell the importers that their import permits will be reduced every year for CBU units but CKD units will be unlimited. The CKD units to be assembled here by Australian workers in new factories. After say 10 years import permits to be restricted to 15% of sales which will permit import of small volume production of specialist vehicles. This programme alone would greatly reduce the numbers receiving Newstart Allowance and Disability Pension with a capacity for work.

Originally Posted by Tote

Yes and no..... We sell wool and occasionally lamb or mutton. Wool bales go through the auction system to the highest bidder, lots of less than a bale go to the local wool merchant who aggregates them and send them to auction (for a fee). Sheep go to the sale yards to the highest bidder. Its a bit rich to accuse producers of not supplying their meat to the local butcher when there is no way to do that.
Some large producers and feedlots have a direct relationship with processors and will sell their premium product to the highest bidder, which is not usually the domestic market.
To illustrate this point here is a link to a premium supplier with a paddock to plate product. Have a look at the prices, that is why we export the best product. Order saltbush lamb online - Saltbush Lamb
As an aside when we moved to Yass there was a butcher that killed and dressed his own meat that he selected from the local market. The cost of concreting/bitumening the driveway to the slaughterhouse to meet new food safety regulations put paid to that.

Regards,
Tote

Well, I had a look at the Saltbush Lamb site. My God, the prices. These prices are why lamb has not been bought in my household, other than Woolies having legs on special at $5.00 kilo and I bought three for the freezer, for over two years. One can almost buy a ham for less than a leg of lamb. I wanted a mutton ham last Christmas and my local butcher told me it is near impossible for him to buy mutton as almost all is exported. He is third generation in that shop and told me that they once upon a time smoked their own hams and mutton hams every Christmas. In the 1970's he reckoned they did up to 600 hams for the Christmas trade and 200 mutton hams. They don't even break up bodies any more. They buy in packaged meat from large processors. He told me to try a halal butcher for mutton as they deal quite a bit in it. He would cure and smoke it for me if I got a mutton leg. I went to a nearby halal butcher and got a good whiff of not quite fresh meat so didn't bother entering the shop.

Originally Posted by Bigbjorn

I fully agree. Charity begins at home. Export our unemployment problem by severely limiting imports. Motor vehicles would be a good starting point. Tell the importers that their import permits will be reduced every year for CBU units but CKD units will be unlimited. The CKD units to be assembled here by Australian workers in new factories. After say 10 years import permits to be restricted to 15% of sales which will permit import of small volume production of specialist vehicles. This programme alone would greatly reduce the numbers receiving Newstart Allowance and Disability Pension with a capacity for work.

I don't pretend to have the answers here, but I don't think re-building tariff walls is a viable solution. Overall, the economy is in a much better shape now since we floated the dollar and opened up trade. Tariffs would simply increase the cost of living, reduce consumer choice and shrink our export markets.

We need to be smarter than that. We are too small to exist in isolation and need to be part of the global economy - that is if we want to maintain the standard of living we have become accustomed to. We need to give our industries every opportunity to compete, not only domestically but globally. Without wanting to get political, I would think things like a sensible water policy for our farmers, a decent energy policy and effective anti-dumping laws would be a start.

Cheers,
Jon

We only buy A2 milk if we can't get that we buy Pauls. We hope the farmers are getting the extra