DianaTaking our pulse with chick-peas...
April 11th 2008 06:17
We can still all bring home our bacon and eat it, in Australia at least for the time being.
Better make the most of it though cos the pork industry has been crippled by the Australian government allowing cheap pork imports to flood our markets and put our growers out of business. The USA farmers, strongly subsidised, are reaping the benefits of this arrangement while our farmers are selling their piggeries and seriously going under.
That’s fine. We like American pork, produced in huge ‘animal farms’ and fed GM grain. We can easily afford it, too. We also don't mind our bacon 'ripened' with growth hormones and forced-fattened. Our Government doesn't care if we do mind, as far as we can tell, cos they aint doing nothin to fix it.
Want me to give a quck run-down on other things in our happy agricultural industry? Or do you already know?
The grain industry? About to be de-regulated (remember the fuss in Iraq?) Plus fears that GM canola could soon become a weed, according to Swedish researchers. Oh well, too late for us as seeds of that crop have already blown all around and mixed into regular crops, thanks to un-supervised government trials.
Fruit and veggie industry? In turmoil while it attempts to re-structure the peak body.
Apples and pears? About to be devastated by climate change, begging for assistance, which is not forthcoming. Nothing new there. I think China does a nice line in apples too.
Things are so bad that Peter McGauran (former Min for Ag) can’t hack it and is poised to resign. Is that good or bad? Can't say really....
But tis not all gloom n doom
A good ‘autumn break’ has been predicted, ensuring the whole sorry cycle can still grind on for another season.
A 'super' breed of cancer-preventing broccoli has been developed.
Australian pulse-growers will benefit from a short-fall in the Indian chick-pea crop.
(Sounds funny that last bit, doesn't it?)
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