The closure of the McCain Food processing plant on the Victorian-South Australian border may be a positive for local farmers, but only in the short term. Concerns that McCain Foods Ballarat plant may be next is at the back of many district farmers' minds.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The potential increase to supply local potatoes will still however depend on the amount of imported potatoes coming into Australia. This 'positive outcome', is overshadowed by the food manufactures like McCain Foods importing potatoes from four major importers New Zealand, Belgium, Holland and America.
"We could supply all French fries in Australia, but there would be a larger extra demand for us to supply."
"It all revolves around the Australian dollar at present as to how many potato imports are coming into the country," Ballarat potato growers group chairman Norm Suckling said.
"If the cost of production keeps going up the downside is that this is another step away from losing the industry completely.
Local growers are struggling to keep ahead of the increasing cost of production in farming.
"The local farming is at the most unprofitable I have seen in my life. You can make a small profit and survive in farming only if you are not updating your infrastructure," a local producer, who did not wished to be named, said.
"The government needs to see that the prices of goods coming into Australia are cheaper than the prices being charged here it makes it impossible for the farmers to do anything with that."
Hepburn Shire is a significant agricultural region and part of Melbourne's food bowl.
It is also well known that farmers are price-takers and often at the receiving end of decreasing terms of trade.
"The government talks about export opportunities, how can we compete with exports with imports coming in. We can't even supply our own market at those costs," One farmer said.
Dr Clinton Fernandez, from University of NSW, was scathing of the lack of protection for Australian farmers.
"Other nations subsidise their farmers much more than Australia. China now spends more on farm subsidies than the EU and subsidises their farmers by 17 per cent of a total of $165b.
"The European Union subsidises their farmers up to 19 per cent for a total of $106b, while in comparison Australian farmers receive 3 per cent of the value of farm production."
