Quote:
Originally Posted by Hans Tucker
Hardly news...Today Tonight & A Current Affair have been reporting stories such as these for over a year..I even think Sixty Minutes might have done a story about foriegn take overs of Australian farms with the clear blessing of the government. Rather than sell Cubbie Farm they should have scrapped it..it is a stupid idea to grown cotton (a water hungry crop) in a country where water is becoming scarce. This country needs to support farming and farmers need to be smarter about what they grow. Shame governments (Liberal & Labour) only think short term to the next election rather than plan for this countries future.
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Gotta agree with the environmental affects of cotton.
It's a land-killer.
But.
Although I own a farm, I 'm not really a farmer, however those around us are and they're pretty savvy about what they grow.
They grow to the market.
When the public decides they want to pay a premium for sustainably, farmed produce (be it meat or veg) on a
consistant basis, not just on a whim, then I think you'll find farmers more than happy to oblige.
When the consuming public decides it would rather spend it's money on food than cigarettes, alchohol and 'presitige' cars. then I think you'll see a change in farm practice.
Farming is capital intensive and utterly dependent on the wind and weather. Farmer's margins are often very tight and it its always guesswork about whats going to bring in the cash next year.
It's also a 24/7 job. No unions, no benefits no "personal time", no sickies.
You don't work, you don't eat.
Your crop fails.
Tough.
So why should the person that feeds
YOU have to be penalised for doing the hard yards..
No other profession is so vulnerable to the exigences of exogenous circumstance. No other job requires such long-term commitment.
It's no wonder landholder's are selling-off to foreign buyers - constant villification by urban know-nothings, sod-all returns, and no governmaent support, mean it's more attractive to take the money and let a foreign agri-corp run the business.
If the general public want's Australian land to stay in Australian hands, they should fore-go their indulgances ( multi-thousand dollar telescopes and gear anyone?), form co-operatives and buy the land themselves.
