australian identity: Contributed By A Concerned Member In The Riverina

Bittersweet: Oranges litter the ground at Wentworth's Tapio Station. Picture: Gary McCarten

Picture: Gary McCarten
HUNDREDS of tonnes of citrus is being dumped in the Riverina and Sunraysia after an oversupply of juice fruit.
(Weekly Times)

Australia First Have Grave Concerns For the Future Of Australian Producers.

The citrus industry in the Riverina is at crisis point. Decimated by free trade many farmers have decided it is easier to tear out Citrus tree's that have produced for generations rather than try and compete with Brazilian juice concentrates flooding the market. To add insult to injury, Coles and Woolworths dictate the buy price of around 20c a kilo. It costs growers more than that to pick the fruit so rather than throw money away they let it rot on the ground.

Recently growers have been asked to consider a new range of citrus varieties. http://www.theland.com.au/news/agriculture/horticulture/general-news/new-navels-offer-appeal/2652468.aspxThey are to pin their hopes and livelihood on the chance that the public will support them when they supply more marketable products. This may make a small difference but we need to consider the cost of replanting new varieties and the time it takes to maturity. Many growers will be gone before they can ever realize any profit from their new venture. Not only that the big supermarkets will take most of the profit like they do now with everything from milk to olive oil. Their greed is insatiable and no one in the major parties will stop them. A bill was put forward which was to force the major supermarkets to show the farm gate price on all of their produce (Constitutional Corporations Farm Gate to Plate Bill 2011)and it was defeated after a vote from the major parties.

Now the NSW State Liberal/National government is about to cut funding for fruit fly prevention. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-01/citrus-growers-fear-loss-of-fruit-fly-funding/4603444 Apparently grower will be asked to fork out an extra $8 million dollars to protect their fruit from fruit fly. This move will most definitely devastate an industry already ravaged by cheap imports and a high Australian dollar. It seems our state Liberal government is taking the scrooge approach to anything they deem unimportant and that includes everything from public health to agricultural output. This also includes agricultural research which has been cut over the last decade.The only thing safe is mining where they are keen to provide plenty of infrastructure so the foreign mining companies can access and rape our land of its wealth.

Australia needs to take a good hard look at free trade and the destruction it has reaped on our agriculture and manufacturing. Tariffs need to be reintroduced to protect food production. We need to regulate the price at the farm gate to protect our farmers from greedy corporations and we need to build better Australian infrastructure to lower the cost of doing business. This includes red tape and over taxing as Australian individuals and small business pays the lion share of taxes while corporations especially foreign owned pay next to nothing. We produce the best quality and cleanest food on the planet and will always have a market for it no matter what the alarmist free trade supporters say.

Now comes the crunch part. Labor, the Liberals or the Nationals will not stop the free trade rot. They all subscribe to this madness and are openly chasing new agreements all of the time. They will continue on with their globalist policies that help no one except, foreign corporations and the elite. Only Australia First will make the tough decisions and take us back to a strong and independent Australia.

http://www.abc.net.au/rural/content/2013/s3724555.htm