Sarcastic as your comment was, your point about profits going overseas is a legitimate concern. As for responsibility to locals, that’s potentially a concern also but the Hassad Group has to abide by all Australian laws and pay tax etc.

As a qatari citizen I personally think its great that we can buy land in your country, do whatever we like with it, take all the money with no responsibility to the people of the area. Enjoy your broadband!

Ha ha trust me to bring in a view with weighted proportions to the organic side. One thing that stood out to me while reading this was the snails issue that many farmers are facing lately. Add to that the idea of organics and you’re truly limited on how to handle such a problem. I’ve always taken the view to burning as all being part of the balance of farming. I’m by no means against the burning idea, on the contrary I believe it most definitely has it’s place. However when I see farmers basically burning every paddock almost every year for the sake of clearing the stubble itself to make it easier to prepare for the season approaching, Twit come to mind. A buildup of carbon as you mentioned is one thing we need in the soil at the moment with the smaller amounts of yearly rain.

I do believe on a basic scale, you can kinda tell who knows what they’re doing and who really doesn’t by the amount they burn their paddocks.

Wow you were right Jonny, this was worth a read. Do you really want to know what I think ha ha? I think you’re right, we in Australia as a community including more the non farming community, but certainly some of the farming community take for granted what we have here. You only have to see what the Greens party does here to see they haven’t a clue. And for many Australians in the cities to vote green suggests they haven’t a clue either.

Personally I think there needs to be a bit of a change of mindset, though I don’t see it happening. Yes we need more confidence in the farming line of work, but I would suggest we’re in a bit of a bad way if it’s taking foreign investment to bring it about. The confidence needs to be starting here at home with our own government, showing support to the industries. And it’s not likely that we will see that sort of change while the government here is so clearly swayed by the greens.

But having said that, as a whole, if we’re not going to see what we have in abundance as the blessing that it is… It might as well be used and treasured by others who see it as a blessing. That’s not to say that I like the idea of ownership of our Australian farm land and grain businesses (ABB being bought by Vitera) being transferred offshore. I think it’s sad.

The question then also could be asked. What happens to these farmers who sell out? Are they buying another farm elsewhere, or have we lost that farming business as a part of our economy? Are we now going to be buying some of our produce from farms whose profits exit our economy the very moment we bought our item. I m aware that this has been going on for some time now, but I do worry about the knock on affects to our economy.

I have moved to the city and I may or may not go back to farming. But I will not ever be selling the land that I own. At least it will be an investment in the future of my family and our country.

Marian – Yours is a good point and like Jonathan’s post it highlights the absurd dilemma facing farmers. Apparently they’re essential for food security and the future of the country but they’re not adequately rewarded for the work they do. I think there’s more to say about this.