More Australian agriculture in foreign hands

Vanguard November 2013 p. 5
Duncan B.

Billions of dollars of prime Australian farming land, totalling over 700,000 ha. and important agribusiness companies have passed into the hands of foreign investors in recent years. China, Singapore, Japan, the United Arab Emirates and Canada have been the major investors over the last five years.

In a recent development, the Indonesian Government has put forward a proposal to purchase one million ha. of land in northern Australia to raise beef cattle for the Indonesian market. An Indonesian government-owned firm has been given approval to buy land for this purpose.

Foreign investment has been strongest in the dairy, grain, sugar, cotton, timber, sheep, horticulture and cattle industries. Qatar’s Hassad Foods has been especially active, buying 11 farms totalling over 250,000 ha. since 2010 (see map above).

Most of Australia’s grain handling industry is foreign-owned, and even more will fall into foreign hands if the proposed sale of Graincorp to the US company Archer Daniel Midland is allowed to go through.

Bad news for potato growers.

Food processing giant McCain’s has announced that it will close its potato processing plant in Penola (SA) by Christmas, leaving 59 workers without a job.

The company blames rising costs and the flood of cheap overseas-grown potatoes into Australia. Potato imports have gone from 10,000 tonnes in 2002 to 130,000 tonnes at the end of 2012.

Aus Veg which represents vegetable growers is concerned for the fate of the potato growers who supply the Penola plant.

Supermarket duopoly under fire

The“Big Two” of Australian supermarkets, Coles and Woolworths, continue to come under fire from suppliers over alleged tough practices in dealing with farmers and manufacturers.

Farm lobby groups from NSW, Vic, WA and QLD have set up a committee to push for a mandatory code of conduct for the supermarket giants to protect suppliers from price gouging.

Coles and Woolworths appear to be taking heed of the campaigns around their use of imported produce in their home brand products. Coles has announced that it is working towards sourcing all the vegetables for its home brand from Australian growers. Woolworths has signed a contract with SPC to supply fruit for its home brands, instead of overseas fruit being used.

These are small victories in the on-going struggle against the might of Coles and Woolworths. This is a struggle that has brought together consumers, farmers, manufacturers and small business people, all of whom are affected in some way by the predatory actions of Coles and Woolworths.