25th
October 2012
Letter
to the Editor
RURAL AUSTRALIA AT
THE CROSS ROADS
I
write this letter with a heavy heart as I witness the degradation of our once
booming rural economies, especially in the Murray Darling Basin.
With
young rural Australians choosing other careers than agriculture (and who can
blame them) and the average age of Australians in the early fifties we must all
stand up and fight for Australian agriculture, time to stop being complacent
and say “Oh they will do it”, because they won’t.
Our
supermarkets are largely to blame for the shocking state our agricultural industries
are in, especially the fruit industry, them along with bad government policies
are driving large numbers of farmers to bankruptcy, I know this first hand.
A
Current Affair recently had an article on citrus fruit being dumped and trees
being ripped out, that has been going on around Cobram for years, our stone
fruit growers who supply SPC recently had their quotas reduced by 17%, that
amount is replaced by imported fruit, most likely from South Africa where they
have nowhere near the same quality control and still use chemicals banned here
years ago.
I
no longer buy fresh fruit and vegetables from my local IGA or Woolworths
supermarkets, I found the product going off in a matter of days and now source
my fresh fruit and vegetables from the fruit and veg shop, if a lot more
Australians took the time to support their local fruit and veg shops, butcher
shops and farmers markets they would be eating far better product which lasts a
lot longer and is the same price or cheaper than the supermarkets, this then
would send a significant message to the supermarkets to lift their game and
look after farmers.
A
lot of the frozen vegetables are sourced from China, some of the family farmers
still have their sewerage going straight in to the paddock. Most orange juice
and tinned fruit is imported, again please take the time and read the labels.
If
you think I am dreaming a lot of what I have said up, do some research
yourself, you will receive a very rude awakening.
Facebook:
Murray Darling Basin Connection
Yours
as a very concerned rural Australian,
Peter
Gilmour
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